Ballot Access

Update, May 2004

Our goal for the NCGP to get on the ballot for the 2004 elections fell short. In the spring of 2003, House Bill 867 was passed unanimously in committee which generally ensures a vote on the floor. This would have reduced the required number of signatures needed from 60,000 to 15,000. The bill would also have assisted us keeping ballot access by lowering the votes needed (for presidential candidate or governor). However the two leaders of the House refused to bring the bill to a vote for 5 consecutive days, ensuring its failure. Our final tally fell just below 10,000 signatures.

The ACLU has named the NCGP as plaintiff against the State of NC to amend the discriminatory wording on the petition form, and this looks like it should succeed in the spring 2004 session of the House. Whether this affords an opportunity to re-introduce House Bill 867 back onto the floor and make ballot access much more feasible after the November elections is still being pursued.

Write-in Green Presidential Candidate

The probability is that Ralph Nader will be a write-in candidate only this November as an independent. The same will apply to the presidential nominee selected by the Green Party of the US (GPUS) at their Milwaukee Convention in June. As of June 26, North Carolina Greens will have 3 weeks to collect 500 signatures to ensure this happens, and we are committed to achieving this. Soon after June 26 the necessary petition form will appear on our website. We will have until July 18th to submit petitions to county boards of election offices, and August 4 to submit to the SBoE in Raleigh.

Update: the write-in petition drive was successful. It will be possible to write in Cobb/LaMarche in North Carolina this November.

Ballot Access in South Carolina—May 2004

South Carolina and Idaho acquired ballot access earlier this year from The Natural Law Party which decided against running a presidential candidate in 2004. With the filing deadline past, SCGP are running several candidates for office, including the senatorial seat being vacated by Fritz Hollings.Petitions

Ballot Access petitions are available for download, both in Microsoft Word format (.doc) and in a format suitable for high-quality printing (.pdf). Note: the wording of these petitions will probably have to change again soon.