North Carolina is one of six states in which it is easier to qualify a new party for the ballot than complete an Independent petition for President. Yes, it does seem illogical, but that is also the case in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii and Texas.

And, North Carolina’s disparity is very large, currently 82,542 signatures for an Independent presidential petition and only 13,757 signatures for a new political party. This has been a long-time common path for Independent presidential candidates to take to minimize the cost of petition drives. There really isn’t anything new here.

Yet, Democratic PAC Clear Choice Action is calling the We the People Party a “sham party” and is urging the rejection of the petition by the NC State Board of Elections.

Here is the latest on this matter.

The North Dakota Constitutional Amendment passed yesterday with a 61% Yes vote (a majority vote was needed) that bars candidates for US House or US Senate who would attain their 81st birthday by December 31 of the year preceding the year in which their term ended.

So, this could stop some people who are younger than 79 years (for US House elections) and younger than 75 years (for US Senate elections) on Election Day from seeking office.

This will likely face legal challenges based on the US Constitution and prior rulings that qualifications for federal offices cannot be more than those stated in the US Constitution (e.g., the US Term Limits decision of the US Supreme Court).

Here is the story from NBC News.

Here is a link to the study.