A bipartisan group in the state House is pushing a measure dubbed the Voter Freedom Act of 2013.

The group Free the Vote North Carolina offers the following assessment in a news release:

The Voter Freedom Act of 2013 would reduce the number of signatures a new political party must collect to qualify for the ballot from nearly 90,000 to about 11,000. The bill would also make it easier for new parties to retain ballot access, by reducing the number of votes they must get to about 11,000 votes.

The lower signature requirement would also apply to unaffiliated (independent) candidates seeking to run for state-wide office. In addition, the bill would reduce the signature collection requirements for unaffiliated candidates running for Congress, the General Assembly and local office.

“We realize there have been dozens of election law bills introduced during this session,” said Jordon Greene, Free the Vote president and founder. “Other election issues, including voter ID, straight-party voting, partisan judicial elections, and campaign financing, may be important, but we believe the Voter Freedom Act of 2013 goes to the heart of the matter.”

“If the state can arbitrarily exclude candidates from the ballot as it does now, the whole voting process is undermined,” he said.

“The right to vote is not truly complete where free choice does not exist, as is the case in North Carolina,” he observed. “Any other election law reform begins with the right to vote, because the right to vote is the right by which all other rights are protected.”

The John Locke Foundation is one of the groups lending support to the issue. You might remember similar legislation from the 2011 session of the N.C. General Assembly. Below you can watch a 10-minute briefing on the issue from February 2011.