NC Appeals Court Rules Against LP, GP

From a press release issued by the Libertarian Party of NC:

The N.C. Appeals Court decision upholding the state’s restrictive ballot access laws is “a shameful day for our state,” said Dr. Mike Munger, 2008 Libertarian Party candidate for governor.
…
Dr. Munger, chair of Duke University political science department agreed that judges properly show substantial deference to the legislature in these sorts of ‘time, place, and manner’ of elections.

“But at some point our justice system is going to have to take up the cause of the citizens, because right now the General Assembly is letting us down,” he said.

“The North Carolina Constitution guarantees a citizen’s right to vote for the party or candidate of their choice. Right now, that right is being denied. The courts are bending over backwards to give the legislature a chance to make this right. So, for now, the ball is once more in the court of the General Assembly.”
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Since this was a 2-1 decision the full court will automatically hear the case if one of the parties requests it. [LPNC Chair] Howe said the Libertarians will almost certainly make such a request.

Howe said Libertarians were heartened by Judge Calabria’s dissenting opinion, in which she said, “North Carolina’s two percent statewide requirements for both ballot access and ballot retention place too onerous a burden on the fundamental rights of members of third parties under the State Constitution.”

Judge Calabria noted that the state permits ballot access under far less burdensome requirements for unaffiliated candidates, and thus has proven that it can accomplish its “compelling interest” in ballot regulation in a less restrictive fashion.

The LPNC’s Chair, Barbara Howe, later indicated that the case absolutely would go to appeal.

The Fayetteville (NC) Observer comments about the decision in an editorial. They encourage the NC Supreme Court to consider that if it does not take action, the chance of legislative relief is slim:

To be sure, the legislature could make the ballot requirements less onerous. But just as surely, it won’t.

In theory, all parties must jump through the same hoops. But the two major parties invented a system in which only third parties need even think about qualifying, unless Republicans or Democrats meet with some catastrophe comparable to a supervirus or a nuclear attack. …

This is about a system in which small parties can win only temporary legitimacy, and must keep winning it through tedious and costly processes while the major parties go their merry way.

Which is, of course, exactly what many legislators had in mind.