Thursday's business session

Members listen to state LP Chair Phil Jacobson give a report about the lobbying effort to get HB88 approved.

HB88 - the Electoral Fairness Act - was improved, but had been severely crippled by amendment from its original intent. Here's the LPNC press release about HB88:

LPNC News: NC Stumbles Toward Democracy
by Tom Howe, LPNC Press Secretary
Is your view represented somewhere on the ballot? Perhaps an independent candidate, a citizen's initiative, or a third party choice would be good? Forget it! The legislature closes this year with two timid baby steps toward open democracy, while leaving onerous barriers to any choices outside... themselves. This fall, 65 of the 120 NC House districts have only one candidate and 23 of 50 NC Senate districts have only one candidate.
With costly barriers to independent and third party candidates among the harshest in the nation, North Carolina found itself on the losing end of one law suit and litigating another. Perhaps that was the impetus behind House Bill 88, now awaiting the governor’s signature. Assuming the bill is signed, independent candidates will "only" be treated as harshly as third parties. The only third party to regularly achieve ballot access in North Carolina, the Libertarians, often spent nine months and $100,000 on the effort. No third party or independent candidate has ever met the current signature requirement without the use of professional petitioners. Barbara Howe was the Libertarian candidate for governor in 2000 and in 2004. She told supporters, "The passage of HB 88, a. k. a. the Electoral Fairness Act, is really a mixed blessing. It does nothing to address the tremendous hurdle a group has to leap in order to get on the ballot. It even adds to that hurdle by requiring filing fees. But once we are on, the reduction of the number of votes we have to get in order to stay a qualified party is helpful. I guess I'd like to rename the bill the 'Electoral A Tiny Bit Fairer Act'."
In happier news, House Bill 1024 also has passed. If the governor signs it, a few localities may get to sample a plan called Instant Runoff Voting (IRV). Primary election voters would select their first choice (as usual) and, in addition, their second and third choices. If a run off is required, some candidates are eliminated as usual, and all the ballots are counted again, with each being counted toward the most favored candidate still in the race. IRV will eliminate debacles where as little as 3% of the electorate shows up for a primary run off.
Roughly half of North Carolina’s citizens regularly skip their opportunity to vote. Over a million North Carolina citizens register as unaffiliated. Maybe more choices would help! We have seen Iraq deal with dozens of parties and California manage hundreds of candidates. Maybe North Carolina can stand just three or four? Libertarians and Greens want to play. What are the incumbents afraid of?