On August 30, a federal lawsuit was filed against certain North Carolina ballot access laws that affect independent candidates. The plaintiffs are Kyle Kopitke, an independent running for president; and Greg Buscemi, an independent candidate for U.S. House. Kopitke v Bell, e.d., 7:19cv-164-D.

The lawsuit challenges the February petition deadlines for independent candidates, which has existed since early 2017. It also challenges the number of signatures, both for statewide independent candidates and candidates for U.S. House. Statewide independents need 70,000 signatures, and U.S. House independents need approximately 15,000.

A U.S. District Court in North Carolina already ruled in 2004 that the state cannot require more signatures for statewide independents than for newly-qualifying parties. After the 2004 decision, DeLaney v Bartlett, the state equalized the statewide independent and new party petitions. But then in late 2017 they sharply reduced the number of signatures for new parties, so that the two requirements were again different. New parties need 11,778 signatures.

The lawsuit also challenges the requirement that write-in candidates must file a petition in order to have their write-ins counted.