The North Carolina ballot access trial is now over. It was conducted on May 5-6, with closing arguments on May 7. During the course of the trial, the plaintiffs (Libertarian and Green Parties) presented 8 witnesses. The state did not present any witnesses who testified in court, although the state did present affidavits from election officials. The state rests its defense of the existing ballot access laws almost solely on the point that (1) the laws had already been upheld in federal court in 1994; (2) North Carolina elects ten statewide state offices in presidential election years, and if there are several minor parties on the ballot, and they run candidates for all these statewide state offices, that will create a ballot that is cumbersome. Some North Carolina counties use optical-scan ballots, and if there are too many offices and too many candidates in the general election, that will take more than a single ballot card for each voter. Other North Carolina counties use touch-screen machines.
An opinion will probably come within the next three weeks. Witnesses for the plaintiffs were two political scientists, Michael Munger and Steven Greene; two Libertarian Party leaders, Barbara Howe and Sean Haugh; three Green Party leaders, Elena Everett, Hart Matthews, and W. Gray Newman; and Richard Winger.
