On October 31, the North Dakota Libertarian Party filed this 12-page rehearing request in Libertarian Party of North Dakota v Jaeger, 10-3212. The issue in the lawsuit is whether a state may require a small qualified party to attract as much as 15% of the primary voters to choose that party’s primary ballot, if it wants to have nominees for the legislature on the November ballot.

One of the peculiar aspects of the North Dakota primary vote test requirement is that it is so much harsher for legislative candidates, than candidates for Congress or statewide state office. The primary vote test for statewide office is 300 votes, which means the statewide candidates need an average of about 6 voters within each legislative district to choose the minor party’s primary ballot. But if that same party wants to have a legislative candidate on the ballot in November, the number of voters within that legislative district to choose that party’s primary ballot can be as high as 130 voters, i.e., over twenty times as high as the test for statewide candidates.