Constitution Party presidential candidate Virgil Goode submitted 541 signatures to the state Board of Elections yesterday, qualifying him as write-in candidate in North Carolina.

Goode, 66, of Richmond, Virgina, served 16 years in Congress as a Democrat, Republican and independent. He said he petitioned to be certified as a write-in because “North Carolina’s harsh ballot access laws made it nearly impossible to get my name on the ballot.”

“If you want to really make a difference this year to really impact the executive branch, if you want a balance budget now, you’ll vote for Virgil Goode for president,” he said. “If you want to secure our borders now by ending illegal immigration and reducing legal immigration, I’m you’re only candidate.”

Goode said the favors a “near complete” moratorium on green card admissions. “Why should we let nearly a million people in who can take any job in the country. It’s absurd.”

He said that neither major party will do anything about the problem because they believe it benefits them in some way. President Obama and the Democrats want more green card immigration because they think it will result in more Democratic voters. Mitt Romney and the Republicans believe it means a cheaper work force for their financial backers.

“There’s only one candidate in the field that’s going to stand up for the average citizen and the individual American worker, and that’s Virgil Goode,” he said.

“It’s time for grass-roots America to have a standing in our government,” he said. “I favor the many over the special few that are the primary funding sources for the Obama and Romney campaigns.”

Goode says he expects the Constitution Party to be on the ballot in about 40 states.