There are two bills in North Carolina to reduce the number of signatures needed for an independent candidate for statewide office. H 1115 passed the House on May 17. It lowers the number of signatures for a statewide independent from 2% of the number of registered voters (approx. 100,000) to 2% of the last gubernatorial vote (69,734).

A better bill, H88, which lowers the statewide independent requirement to about 17,500, and also lowers the new party petition to the same number, has not made any headway lately but could still pass.

On June 10, the US Court of Appeals, DC circuit, reversed the lower court decision that had told the Federal Election Commission to re-visit the question of whether the Commission on Presidential Debates is biased against minor parties. The decision is here.

The veto of Colorado HB 1147 (the bill liberalizing the rules on who can be a petition circulator) has revived a pending lawsuit in federal court, Koehler v Davidson, 04B-1377. The lawsuit challenges Colorado law that won’t let anyone circulate a petition outside his or her home district. The plaintiffs wants to help get a Democratic candidate on the primary ballot, by carrying his petition, but they live outside the district. The judge had put the suit on hold since he knew the legislature was in the process of repealing the restriction. But now that the bill has been vetoed, the lawsuit will proceed.