By Richard Winger | Ballot Access News | June 24, 2010 (Original Context)
The independent candidate petition to place Wendell Fant on the November 2010 ballot in North Carolina’s U.S. House district 8 does have enough valid signatures. The law required 16,929 valid signatures. The campaign handed in 35,450 raw signatures, and 21,084 were valid. The validity rate was 59.5%.
This success sets a new nationwide record for the most difficult petition requirement that has ever been met, for the purpose of placing a candidate on the ballot for U.S. House. The previous record was set in Ohio in 1954, when independent incumbent Frazier Reams overcame a signature requirement of 12,919 valid signatures. There was also one instance in Illinois which was higher than 12,919, but in that Illinois instance, the petition was never checked because it was not challenged.
