House Majority Leader Paul Stam, R-Wake, put into words the essence of this session’s legislative effort to open up the election process to more voices by reducing the barriers for third parties to put candidates on the ballot. Critics say reducing the number of signatures required to be on the statewide ballot — from 85,000 to 10,000 — will fill the ballot with fringe candidates.  From Carolina Journal’s Sara Burrows comes Rep. Stam’s spot-on reaction to that.

House Majority Leader Paul “Skip” Stam, R-Wake, said he didn’t care how many candidates ended up on the ballot.

“Let a hundred flowers bloom,” he said.

Among the bill’s supporters are the other minor parties — the Conservative Party, the Constitution Party, the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, the Modern Whig Party, and the Reform Party — along with political advocacy and public policy groups, including NC Campaign for Liberty, NC Center for Voter Education, NC Common Cause, Democracy NC, Fair Vote, The Free and Equal Foundation, Free the Vote NC, the John Locke Foundation, Republican Liberty Caucus of NC, ACLU of NC, the State Bar Association, and the NC League of Women Voters.

“When political parties and public policy groups of such divergent views unite in a common cause, it clearly attests to the fact that ballot access reform is not a special interest group issue,” Farmer-Butterfield said.

The bill passed the House 66-50. To become law, it must pass the Senate and then go to Gov. Bev Perdue.

 

A victory for democracy.