For the first time ever, an independent candidate for State Senate is likely to qualify for a North Carolina government-printed ballot. He is Eric Fink, who is running against Senator Phil Berger, a Republican with no Democratic or Libertarian opponent. Also, three independents are likely to qualify for State House. North Carolina has never had as many as four independent candidates on the ballot for legislature.

North Carolina ballot access requirements have historically been so severe, the state has never had an independent candidate on a government-printed ballot for either house of Congress, or for Governor. That is true for no other state. The North Carolina independent petition requirement was originally 10% of the last vote cast. It was increased in 1935 to 25% of the last vote cast, then reduced in 1973 back to 10%. The 10% requirement was held unconstitutional in 1980 for statewide office, and in 1991 for district office.

See this story on the independent candidates this year. North Carolina has 50 State Senate seats up this year, and 120 State House, so four independents is still quite sparse. The petition deadline for candidates to submit signatures to the counties for verification was June 9, but the deadline for the verification process to be finished is June 24. The article misleads people into thinking petitioning is still going on. The article mentions that Representative Ken Goodman plans to introduce a bill in 2017 to require independent candidates to file with no petition at the same time that primary candidates must file, and then to compete in an “independent primary”. The article misses the irony that if that system were in effect this year, the filing deadline for independents would have been in December 2015, before the controversial vote on a bill on bathrooms that caused these independent candidates to run. The story also misses the point that such an early deadline for independents would be unconstitutional. In 1980 the old April petition deadline in North Carolina for independents was struck down. Thanks to Douglas Joy for the link.