Members of North Carolina Independents, a non-partisan association of unaffiliated voters, plan to picket in downtown Greensboro Tuesday to protest barriers to access for independent candidates and voters. UNC Greensboro professor Omar Ali is a founder of the group.

“Elections should be public affairs, but what has happened is that the political parties which are private organizations have control over the process, and create laws to make it very difficult for the outsiders, the unaffiliated voters, to get in,” says Ali.

In order to get on the ballot in North Carolina, candidates who do not belong to the major parties must petition first. Then in order for their party to stay on the ballot in statewide races, they must receive two percent of the total vote.

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