NCICL FILES BRIEF IN BALLOT ACCESS CASE

March 8, 2010 – Raleigh, NC.  - NCICL Executive Director Bob Orr and Senior Staff Attorney Jason Kay filed a friend of the court brief today at the North Carolina Supreme Court in Libertarian Party of N.C. v. State.

This case, which was brought by the Libertarian Party of N.C. with the N.C. Green Party as intervenors, challenges ballot access laws. It concerns the “rights of individuals to associate for the advancement of political beliefs, and the right of qualified voters, regardless of their political persuasion, to cast their votes effectively”: fundamental rights as stated by our judiciary. In North Carolina, statutes mandate that political parties must obtain the signatures of a percentage of the voters who voted in previous gubernatorial elections in order to be eligible to be placed on the ballot; they must also maintain a threshold percentage of voters. These laws place a heavy burden on any third party political group and consequently limit the ability of individuals who support third parties to assert their constitutional rights to participate in the election process.

Recently, the Court of Appeals held that the fundamental rights of the plaintiffs were implicated but then applied a standard of review that imposed a presumption of constitutionality in favor of the State.  Appellants, and NCICL as amicus curiae, have urged the Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional laws that allow the inequitable treatment of political parties. Appellants and amici curiae point out that, when a fundamental right is concerned, the presumption of constitutionality does not lie with the State. Rather, the State, and not the individual citizen whose rights have been trampled, must bear the burden of showing that laws comply with the constitution.

The Appellants are ultimately seeking a declaratory judgment that ballot access laws in North Carolina are unconstitutional under the State Constitution and an injunction requiring that they remain recognized political parties in North Carolina.