On December 24, 2003, US District Court Frank Bullock
of the middle district of North Carolina cleared away
all the procedural objections to the lawsuit DeLaney v
Bartlett, 1:02cv-741.  The judge now wants evidence on
the question of the constitutionality of the number of
signatures needed for independent candidates for
statewide office in North Carolina.  Plaintiffs had
charged that it is unconstitutional for the state to
require statewide independents to collect signatures
equal to 2% of the number of registered voters (about
100,000) when new parties need 2% of the last
gubernatorial vote (58,842 signatures currently).

In US Senate elections around the US in 2002, only 4
states had independent candidates on the ballot, but
21 states had minor party candidates on the ballot. 
Generally, in recent years, minor parties are more
likely to run for statewide office than independent
candidates are likely to run.  Therefore, it should be
fairly easy for the plaintiffs to win the next round,
since it seems obvious that no state has any good
reason to require more signatures for a statewide
independent than for a minor party.

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