North Carolina and West Virginia are two of the toughest states for smaller parties trying to get a place on the ballot. Ballot Access News reports:
The lawsuit Libertarian Party of North Carolina v State Board of Elections is now docketed in the State Court of Appeals in Raleigh. It is case number 08-1413. The Green Party is a co-plaintiff. The case was filed in 2003 and challenges all the North Carolina election laws that make life difficult for minor parties in that state. The main thrust of the lawsuit attacks the ballot access laws, but many other issues exist as well, including the ability of voters to register as members of parties that are not currently qualified. Although the Libertarian Party is now back on the ballot through the 2012 election, the Green Party is not, so the case is not moot in any sense.
And in West Virginia,
West Virginia Delegate Barbara Fleischauer (D-Morgantown) will introduce a bill in the 2009 session of the legislature to lower minor party and independent candidate petitions from 2% of the last vote cast, to 1%.
To bolster the case for the bill, she will use the decision in Barr v Ireland, in which a U.S. District Court upheld the existing law, but acknowledged that West Virginia is tied for having the 2nd-most restrictive law in the nation, for presidential candidates running outside the two major parties. West Virginia is tied with North Carolina. Each of those two states require a petition of 2% of the last vote cast in the preceding presidential election year. The only state that is more restrictive is Oklahoma, which requires a petition of 3% of the last vote cast in the preceding presidential election year. All other states have lower percentage requirements.