On September 21, the North Carolina Libertarian Party filed its ballot access lawsuit. It challenges both the number of signatures to get a party on the ballot (69,734) and the requirement for a party to remain on the ballot (a vote of 10% for president or governor). The case is filed in state court in Wake County, and relies on the State Constitution’s provision that “elections shall be free”. North Carolina only required 10,000 signatures for a new party between 1929 and 1981, and never suffered from a crowded ballot. Also in the past the vote test for a party to remain on was 3%. The 3% was raised in 1949, after the States Rights Party polled 9% for president in North Carolina. Since then, the only party (other than the Democratic and Republican Parties) that has polled enough votes to remain on the North Carolina ballot was George Wallace’s American Party in 1968.