The U.S. District Court in Charlotte that was to have held a hearing in a North Carolina constitutional ballot access case on July 28 has postponed the hearing to an undetermined date in mid-August.  The case is Greene v Bartlett.  The plaintiff challenges the number of signatures needed for an independent candidate for U.S. House in North Carolina, which is 4% of the number of registered voters.  The hearing was postponed because the judge must have a medical operation on July 28.  UPDATE:  the hearing is now set for August 12 at 2 p.m.

No independent candidate for U.S. House on North Carolina has ever appeared on a government-printed ballot.  One did appear to qualify this year, but then the candidate named on the petition refused to run.  The petition had been sponsored by the Service Employees International Union.

On July 14, the managing editor of Black Agenda Report, Bruce Dixon, published this essay, advocating that black political activists enter the Green Party and assume leadership roles in that party.

Mary Norwood, the independent candidate for Chair of the Fulton County, Georgia, Commission, sued Fulton County elections officials on July 22, because they refused to accept her filing fee on July 3, because the law says she should have paid it by noon and she paid it four hours later.  The case will get a hearing on July 27 at 1:30 p.m.  It is somewhat encouraging that the judge was willing to schedule the hearing so quickly.  Thanks to Christina Tobin for this news.  The case is Norwood v Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, Superior Court, 2010-cv-188643.

Meanwhile, the county still hasn’t finished checking her petition.  She submitted approximately 33,000 signatures to meet a requirement of approximately 22,500.  The petition requirement is 5% of the number of registered voters in the county, as of October 2006.