Small political parties in North Carolina made a small but important gain Tuesday when the state House agreed to accept the Senate version of a bill that makes it easier for third parties to stay on the ballot from election to election. The Electoral Fairness Act, which now goes to the governor for his signature, reduces from 10 percent to 2 percent the portion of votes a party other than the Democrats and the Republicans must receive in a gubernatorial or presidential election to remain a recognized political party in the state.

However, only one third-party candidate in recent N.C. history - Scott McLaughlin, a Libertarian candidate for governor who attracted 4 percent of the vote in 1992 - has ever met the 2 percent threshold. Third parties also must collect the signatures of 2 percent of those voting in a gubernatorial or presidential election - 69,000 signatures this year - to gain state recognition and put a candidate on the ballot for the first time, and they must repeat the expensive process if they fail to get 2 percent of the vote in a particular election. Also, the legislation changes current law by requiring third-party candidates to pay a filing fee, which one Libertarian Party activist criticized as forcing them to pay twice to run if they also have to collect signatures. But the filing fee may have been necessary to win some legislators' votes. The legislation had stronger Democratic backing a few years ago when efforts to pass it started, but it received bipartisan support this year, including a boost from state Sen. Andrew Brock, R-Davie. A Green Party leader called the new law "an improvement for democratic participation" in the state.

Nevertheless, the provision makes little dent in the Democratic and Republican dominance of government at the local, state and federal levels. The major parties' familiar two-way game of attack and counterattack continue to gridlock Raleigh and Washington and discourage citizen participation, competition and new ideas. Their near-monopoly is a major reason why the four members of Davidson County's state legislative delegation have no election opponents this year. In past elections you could count on the Libertarians to make sure they had opposition. Historically, third parties have contributed new thinking and creative new solutions that the major parties have adopted. They have the ability to form useful coalitions with the Democrats and Republicans. The Founding Fathers never decreed that the United States should have a two-party system. Open and effective government should be the goal.

The small election-law change approved Tuesday should not be enough for the state to win a pending lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court challenging the constitutionality of North Carolina's election system. The Libertarians, the Greens and a number of individuals allege that the state has two sets of election laws - one with "special benefits" for Democrats and Republicans and a second one with "special burdens" for everyone else. They contend the system violates N.C. constitutional protections of equal protection and requirements that elections be free. The state will have to make bigger changes if it loses in court.

The trend in recent years has been for states to reduce ballot access restrictions. Florida, Mississippi and Vermont have eliminated signature requirements altogether and ask only that third parties keep updated files with the secretary of state - like Democrats and Republicans. North Carolina should keep moving in that direction.