Free the North Carolina Ballot

We, the undersigned supporters of the NC Open Elections Coalition and citizens of North Carolina, call for the passage of the Electoral Fairness Act of 2005 in a form that encourages third-party and independent access to state and local ballots and broadens vital public discourse in North Carolina.

Specifically, we ask that the North Carolina General Assembly restore House Bill 88 to its original language, lowering the signature requirement for political parties and independent candidates and lowering the vote threshold required to remain on the ballot.

[Click above to sign, documentation included below]

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- With no third parties certified in North Carolina, more than half of all state legislative races will have only one candidate on the ballot in November, 2006. This may be one of the reasons why less than half of eligible adults in North Carolina vote.

- Fair and equal access to the ballot allows ordinary citizens to participate in the electoral process. More choice on the ballot increases citizen interest and voter turnout.

- North Carolina has the third most restrictive signature requirements for political parties in the nation (69,734 verified signatures) and, until the state's individual requirement was overturned in federal court, the second most restrictive for independent candidates.

- More than two-thirds of U.S. states require 10,000 or fewer signatures for independent ballot access. Twenty-one states, including South Carolina and Maryland, require 10,000 or fewer signatures for political parties. Nine states require 5,000 or fewer signatures for both parties and independents.

- Because roughly one-third of all signatures cannot be validated, a political party in North Carolina must raise more than 104,601 signatures to be sure of getting ballot access. That's one signature for every 73 people in the state.

- Our tax money pays county board-of-elections officials to verify every one of those petition signatures.

- The only third party to regularly achieve ballot access in North Carolina, the Libertarians, often spent nine months and $100,000 on that effort. No third party has ever met the signature requirement without the use of professional petitioners.

- After each four-year election cycle, if a third party does not receive ten percent of the vote for governor or president, the party is de-certified and has to start all over again. The Libertarian Party has been certified and de-certified eight times.

- The Electoral Fairness Act of 2005 would have reduced North Carolina's signature requirement by three-fourths and the vote threshold by four-fifths, easing the ballot access burden while still leaving North Carolina in the top twenty most restrictive states.

- The Electoral Fairness Act passed out of two committees intact but was amended on the floor of the House to leave the state's signature requirement unchanged (69,734 verified signatures) and to shorten the signature deadline by four months, changes that would make ballot access even more difficult in North Carolina.