On June 30, the North Carolina State Board of Elections refused to certify the Green Party petition, even though the county boards already examined the petition and found it had 16,000 valid signatures. The requirement is 13,865. The Board has three Democratic members and two Republican members. The vote was 3-2. The Board also said it intends to have its personnel telephone everyone who signed the petition to ask if the signer really signed the petition.

The majority of the Board also said it wants to ban paying the practice of paying petitioners, despite the fact that in 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states cannot do that. That case was Meyer v Grant. Thanks to Kevin Hayes for this news.

A National Public Radio Station has this story about the struggle of the North Carolina Green Party to get on the ballot this year.

UPDATE: see this more current news story.

On June 27, Nebraska state officials filed this reply brief in Eggers v Evnen, 22-2268. This is the case over the county distribution requirement for Nebraska initiatives. The state argues that county distribution requirements are only unconstitutional for candidate petitions and petitions to create a new party, but they are not unconstitutional for initiatives.