The attorney for the North Dakota Libertarian Party, Oliver B. Hall, has sent this letter to North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger. The letter explains that the recent 8th circuit decision in the party’s ballot access case said that once a party completes the 7,000-signature petition, it need never complete that petition again.

However, the apparent language of the statute, and precedent, say that parties always must re-petition in North Dakota, unless they happen to poll 5% of the vote for either President or Governor in presidential election years, or 5% for Secretary of State in midterm years. The letter asks that the Secretary of State express his opinion.

Hall had asked for reconsideration of the Eighth Circuit opinion, and also had suggested that the court might at least want to address its apparent error, but the Court simply denied the request and did not re-do its opinion.