“Look, guys… you’re getting a bit carried away with this whole right-to-vote thing,” was essentially the theme of Judge Robert Hobgood’s ruling against the Libertarian and Green parties in a lawsuit that challenged North Carolina’s elections laws.
I’m paraphrasing, of course. His actual words were, “there is no fundamental right for a voter to vote for the party of their choice.” and “The more parties there are that are recognized by the State and that place candidates on the ballot, the greater the chance there is for ballots that are so long as to be unwieldy and to risk voter confusion and frustration of the electoral process,”
“In effect, the State says North Carolina voters are not as smart as Iraqis, who had more than 100 parties to choose from in their elections,” said Barbara Howe, LPNC chair.
4:58 pm on May 29, 2008
