On June 19, the chairman of the Republican Party of Durham County, North Carolina, said he will try to get on the ballot as an independent candidate for Durham County District Attorney. He needs approximately 6,000 signatures, by June 30. The law requires independent candidates in district and county races to collect signatures of 4% of the number of registered voters.

The number of signatures for statewide independents was held unconstitutional in 2004, and the legislature still hasn’t written a new law for statewide independents (there are no statewide independent races in North Carolina this year anyway). But the number of signatures for district independents was not affected by the 2004 court ruling.

The independent procedure for district office is so difficult, no one has ever qualified to be on a North Carolina government-printed ballot as an independent candidate for U.S. House, ever. In the past, the state required 10% of the registered voters. Even earlier, during the years 1935-1973, independents needed a petition signed by 25% of the last vote cast.

The Kansas Reform Party has nominated several candidates for statewide office and placed them on the ballot. It is possible Kansas will be the only state in November 2006 with statewide nominees for the Reform Party, although there are still other states where the deadlines haven’t passed.

The state elections officials in Ohio and Texas both say they will be finished checking independent petitions by the end of June. In Ohio, the independent gubernatorial candidates are really the Libertarian and Green Party candidates, but they are both using the easier independent candidate petition methods. In Texas, the only two statewide independent petitions are those of Kinky Friedman and Carole Strayhorn.