Party on

The Libertarians are on the North Carolina ballot for the fall but haven't yet overturned N.C.'s restrictive ballot access rules

Winning one battle and losing another, the Libertarian Party has been in the news lately. The party, absent from the North Carolina ballots for a spell, is making a comeback for the fall elections. That gives Libertarians a chance to demonstrate their political strength (or weakness) and, more important, offers voters a wider choice of candidates on Nov. 4.

The State Board of Elections says the N.C. Libertarian Party has turned in enough valid signatures -- around 70,000 -- to be on the ballot this November. Voters can consider Libertarians running for governor (the nominee is Mike Munger, a Duke University political science professor who lives in Raleigh), insurance commissioner and other offices.

Judging by past performance, the state-level candidates have work to do. Libertarian candidates for governor in 2000 and 2004 received just 1.5 percent of the vote, below the 2 percent threshold for a party's automatic reappearance on the ballot. A petition drive in 2005 fell short, but now the Libertarians are back.

And it appears that there'll be a presidential candidate at the top of the state party's ticket. Nationally, Libertarians have just nominated Bob Barr to run for president, and he's likely to be on the ballot here.

Barr, readers may recall, is a former Republican representative from Georgia who railed against Bill Clinton during the presidential impeachment. His key issues today are frugality in government and protection of privacy.

He, too, has his work cut out for him: The Libertarian candidate garnered less than 1 percent of the vote here in the past two presidential elections.

Nonetheless, gaining ballot access for the fall and naming a presidential nominee are bright spots for the Libertarians. A ruling by a judge in Raleigh is a setback.

Joined by the N.C. Green Party, the Libertarians sued the state in 2005 over North Carolina's onerous ballot-access standards for political parties, requirements among the country's most stringent. The Libertarians and Greens argue that their members' First Amendment rights are violated by a requirement that a party must file nearly 70,000 signatures to get back on the ballot after an election in which its gubernatorial candidate doesn't win at least 2 percent of the vote.

Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood ruled that the "state has a compelling interest in requiring a preliminary modicum of support before recognizing a political party and placing its candidates on the ballot." He said North Carolina is legitimately concerned that voting lists could grow too long, especially in a state where several Cabinet-level positions are elective, not appointive.

That seems obvious, and just as obvious, it isn't the real issue. The question is whether North Carolina's ballot-access rules place too great a burden on political parties and their supporters. Constitutionally, Hobgood judged, they don't, and he may be right. But, politically, they do.

The remedy here is for the General Assembly to loosen the rules, placing North Carolina somewhere in the middle of the ballot-access pack. Then small but legitimate parties will be free to play the worthwhile role they do in most states.