On March 2, the North Carolina House Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform Committee held an informal hearing on ballot access. The consensus seemed to be that the committee members will write a substitute for HB 32, which will probably require the signatures of either one-fourth of 1%, or one-half of 1%, of the electorate, for new parties and independent candidates to get on the ballot. It is not clear what the base for the signatures will be. If the bill emerges as one-half of 1% of the last gubernatorial vote, that would be 21,345 signatures. The current requirement for 2012 is 85,379 signatures. Thanks to Jordon Greene for this news.
Excellent – I’m moving back to North Carolina by end of this year, good to see there is hope.
I was their and one Representative obviously has never petitioned in his life. He stated he could get 1,000+ signatures in one day and really didn’t have a problem with the current law. I am fighting for 1/4% for a new political party,.
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A companion bill was filed today by co-sponsored by state Senators Sen. Andrew Brock (R) and Eleanor Kinnaird (D). So the Free the Vote Coalition will be working both houses of the N.C.General Assembly to get real electoral reform this year.
Senator Eric Mansfield (D-21) signed on as a Co-Sponsor on Tuesday!