CONCORD The state Libertarian Partys lawsuit against the state over a third partys ability to get its candidates on the ballot can continue, U.S. District Judge Paul Barbaroso wrote Tuesday in a decision rejecting the states request to dismiss the lawsuit.

The Libertarian Party is challenging a state law, passed this year, that requires third parties to collect the number of signatures equaling 3 percent of the total votes cast in the previous election in order to get its candidates on the ballot.

The law further requires that signatures can only be collected beginning in that election year.

The lawsuit claims the requirements are onerous because it forces third parties to spend resources collecting signatures, including during the second half of winter, rather than being able to campaign.

The result is to foreclose the third party from meaningfully participating in the general election and to substantially burden ballot access, the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the Libertarian Party, wrote in a press release.

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Libertarian suit over ballot access gets federal court's OK