The North Carolina ballot access case is now docketed in the U.S. Supreme Court. It is Greene v Bartlett, 11-868. It challenges the ballot access law for independent candidates for the U.S. House. The law is so severe, no independent candidate for U.S. House has ever appeared on a government-printed ballot for that office in North Carolina. North Carolina has been using government-printed ballots since 1901.

In 2010, the Service Employees International Union decided to support an independent candidate for U.S. House in one district in North Carolina, and it submitted a petition, which was checked and found to be valid. However, the candidate named in that petition refused to run. But because the petition appears to have succeeded, the U.S. District Court, and the 4th circuit, said that the procedure is not impossible, and upheld it. No evidence was ever gathered about the SEIU petition drive, but it probably cost the SEIU between $50,000 and $100,000 for paid petitioners. The law requires the signatures of 4% of the registered voters in the district, which is approximately 20,000 valid signatures. The law also requires a large filing fee in addition.