Ralph Nader wants your vote, but first he'll need your signature.

The independent presidential candidate is coming to Raleigh Saturday to hold campaign rally, but he won't be on the North Carolina ballot in November.

So far, only one third-party will have a presidential nominee in North Carolina: The Libertarians.

The Green Party did not submit any signatures before the June 27 deadline to be re-recognized as a party. The two parties also lost a case in May in Wake County Superior Court to overturn the state's tough standards.

The Libertarian Party has filed an appeal.

Under state law, Nader can qualify as a write-in candidate for president by turning in a petition with 500 signatures by noon on Aug. 6.

As a write-in candidate in 2004, Nader received 1,805 votes — or one-tenth of one percent of the ballots cast in that race. He was the top write-in in North Carolina that year.

Correction: An earler version of this post misstated Nader's party affiliation and the status of a lawsuit.

The Libertarian Party believes it has collected enough signatures to get back on the ballot for the November election.

Last week, party officials said they turned in 72,000 signatures to the State Board of Elections to try to gain ballot access for their prospective nominees, Titan Barksdale reports. Libertarians said they have spent four years and and nearly $130,000 collecting the signatures to meet the law that party officials are fighting to overturn.

Officials with the elections board said they are still combing through the signatures to verify their authenticity. The certification process should be completed this week, officials said. If the signatures are certified, it would mark the eighth time the party has been on the ballot.

Libertarians say the effort to get ballot access has been difficult. It's the central issue in a pending lawsuit over the state's ballot access rules for third-party candidates.

State law requires third parties to collect signatures equal to 2 percent of the number of votes cast in the last gubernatorial race. Attorneys for Libertarian and Green Party candidates argued earlier this month in Wake Superior Court that the law is unconstitutional.

The presiding judge over the case has yet to make a ruling.

Several Democratic candidates are targeting Blackwater.

Congressional candidate Marshall Adame, U.S. Senate candidate Jim Neal and U.S. Rep. David Price have attacked the Moyock-based security contractor, the Virginian-Pilot reports.

Adame, a diplomat who spent in Iraq, called them "guns for hire."

Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, introduced legislation requiring more oversight of contractors after Blackwater guards killed 17 Iraqi civilians in September.

And Neal, who is running against state Sen. Kay Hagan for the Democratic nomination, responded "Hell, no," when asked whether the U.S. military should "outsource warfare."

Company founder Erik Prince has donated at least $113,000 to Republican candidates since 1995, including $1,750 to Adame's opponent, incumbent Rep. Walter Jones.

He has not donated to any Democrats.

Update: Blackwater Current blogger Joe Neff says including Prince's family members, the total number of donations is over a quarter million, all to Republicans. One exception: A stealth donation to the Green Party.