GOP legislators pushed changes in election laws during the 2011 regular session. And a broad rewrite of election laws could be considered by a special committee during the interim.
Senate Rules Committee Chairman Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, revealed as much this past week as the panel considered a bill that would lower the threshold for third parties to get on the ballot in North Carolina. That bill was sponsored by Rep. Glen Bradley, R-Franklin.
“We haven’t appointed the committee at this time,” Apodaca said.
Apodaca said the committee will likely consider the ballot access bill, a bill changing judicial elections from non-partisan to partisan and two or three other changes that have been floating around.
The Free the Vote Coalition is committee to enacting a meaningful and significant reduction in the ballot access barriers for alternative parties and unaffiliated candidates, and to aligning North Carolina’s ballot access laws with those used in a majority of states.
[...] This news story, from a blog that covers North Carolina politics, quotes Senator Tom Apodaca, chair of the Senate Rules Committee, as predicting that the legislature will consider ballot access this year. HB 32, which improves ballot access, has already passed the House and the Senate Rules Committee, but it has been unclear when it will go to the Senate. The regular legislative session for this year is already over, but there is a special session; also North Carolina has two-year sessions, so the bill could also advance early next year in the second half of the regular session. [...]