On November 22, U.S. District Court Judge Terrence W. Boyle, a Reagan appointee, upheld North Carolina’s petition requirements for independent candidates, both for President and for U.S. House.  Independent petitions are due on March 3, 2020, for all office.  Statewide independents need 71,545 signatures (1.5% of the last gubernatorial vote).  U.S. House independents need about 8,000 signatures.  Buscemi v Bell, e.d., 7:19cv-164.  Here is the 10-page decision.

The decision says, about the March deadline, “North Carolina is constitutionally empowered to regulate the times, places, and manner of elections.”  The decision does not mention that in 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Anderson v Celebrezze, 460 US 780, that independent presidential petition deadlines as early as March are unconstitutional.  It also doesn’t mention the U.S. Supreme Court ruling Mandel v Bradley, 432 US 173 (1977), that independent candidate petition deadlines for all office are unconstitutionally early if very few independent candidate petitions succeed.

No statewide independent petition in North Carolina has ever succeeded, except for Ross Perot’s 1992 petition, and back then the deadline was June 26.

The decision also does not mention that in 1980, a U.S. District Court in the same district, the Eastern District, invalidated North Carolina’s April petition deadline for independent candidates in Greaves v North Carolina State Board of Elections, 508 F Supp 78.

The decision also does not mention Delaney v Bartlett, 370 F Supp 2d 373 (m.d. 2004), which said that North Carolina could not require statewide independents to collect more signatures than a new party needs.  In North Carolina, new parties need 11,778 signatures.  The plaintiffs will appeal.  The presidential candidate-plaintiff is Kyle Kopitke, an independent presidential candidate who lives in Flint, Michigan.  The opinion does say the candidates have standing.