The State Board of Elections says to register as a Libertarian now.

Deputy elections director Johnnie Mclean says that registered voters can change their party affiliation to the Libertarian Party even though the widely available state forms do not include it as an option, simply by writing its name in.

"Anybody can do that now," she said.

State Libertarians have complained that the form does not include them, since it was created before the party was re-recognized, arguing it is slowing down re-affiliations. But Mclean said it could be months before new forms are available.

She told Dome that the state software's form-creating software has to be reset and new forms printed and sent to the U.S. Department of Justice, which preclears any North Carolina forms for potential civil rights violations.

The state board plans to print the new forms in the next two to three weeks, and it can take another 60 days after that for the federal government to OK them.

Currently, only 29 Libertarians are registered in North Carolina.

The number of registered Libertarians has more than doubled.

But don't get too excited — it's only gone from 5 to 11.

As recently as Monday, the State Board of Elections reported only a handful of people registered to the political party, which was only re-recognized in late May.

Deputy elections director Johnnie Mclean said that the state board only recently got the forms together to allow people to re-register, so it will take a while before the party bounces back.

No word yet on whether Mike Munger is one of the 11. 

Voter turnout today could reach a record low with only one statewide Democratic runoff on the ballot.

Gary Bartlett, the executive director of the State Board of Elections, said he would not be surprised if today's turnout fell below the 2.5 percent recorded in a Republican primary runoff for labor commissioner in 2000, Jane Ruffin reports.

The statewide runoff today pits Mary Fant Donnan, a program officer for the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, against John C. Brooks, a former labor commissioner who was defeated in 1992. The winner will face incumbent Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry in November.

"It seems that probably the largest voting bloc out there today will be the election officials themselves," Bartlett said. "Certainly I would be very disappointed if they did not exercise their franchise."

Bartlett said the heaviest voting appeared to be in McDowell County, which is holding a mixed beverage referendum, and Yancey County, which has a hot school board contest.

The labor commissioner runoff will cost between $3.5 and $5 million.

The cost will be shared by each of the 100 counties participating in the runoff between John C. Brooks and Mary Fant Donnan, though some may pay more if other local races drive turnout, said State Board of Elections deputy director Johnnie Mclean.

In previous primary runoffs, turnout has been as low as 3 percent and as high as 16 percent, though Mclean estimates it will be at the lower end.

Under state law, the runner-up may request a runoff if no candidate receives more than 40 percent of the vote. Brooks, who received 24.4 percent of the vote in a four-way race, came in second to Donnan, who received 27.5 percent.

He said he requested a runoff because it is an "educational opportunity."

"The people of North Carolina would have known nothing more about the issues in the Department of Labor than the man in the moon," he said. "The opportunity to save billions of dollars for the people of North Carolina could have gone by, just like it did four years ago."

Brooks also dismissed the idea of instant-runoff voting, in which voters' second-choice picks are counted if no candidate gets a majority. The towns of Cary and Hendersonville held instant-runoff elections last fall under a pilot program.

The Libertarian Party will be on the November ballot.

State Board of Elections director Gary Bartlett said he will sign a letter this afternoon recognizing the group as a political party, making the fall elections the eighth time the party has been on the North Carolina ballot.

The Libertarians turned in 72,935 verified signatures to the board on May 15, slightly more than the 70,000 required by state law. Along with the Green Party, it is also suing the state in Wake County Superior Court over ballot access laws that require third parties file a petition with 2 percent of the votes cast in the last governor's race.

The party said it spent four years and nearly $130,000 collecting the signatures.

At a convention in mid-April, it named Duke University professor Mike Munger as its gubernatorial candidate, Mark McMains of Fuquay-Varina for insurance commissioner, Thomas Hill of Concord for the Congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes.

It also named a number of candidates in legislative races.

Communications Director Brian Irving said there may be more to come.

"Now that we're back on the ballot, we're going to have to go through the process of finding people to run for office," he said.

There will not be a recount in the labor race.

The State Board of Elections has refused to grant a ballot recount to the third- and fourth-place finishers in this month's Democratic primary for labor commissioner.

The board was split 2-2 Thursday on the requests brought by Ty Richardson and Robin Anderson. A tie means the request failed. A fifth board member couldn't participate, the Associated Press reports.

The board’s decision means a runoff between leading vote-getter Mary Fant Donnan and second-place finisher John Brooks will go as scheduled June 24.

State law allows the board to order a mandatory recount or a discretionary recount. State elections director Gary Bartlett said the board determined that neither one applied in this case.

Richardson was less than 2,000 votes behind Brooks. Anderson was about 5,000 votes behind.

Brooks said he had been expecting the board to approve a recount.

"I guess I'm surprised that there's not going to be one," he said. 

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.

The third and fourth place finishers in the Democratic primary for state Labor Commissioner want a recount.

Mary Fant Donnan of Winston Salem finished first, but failed to get the 40 percent of the vote that would have allowed her to avoid a runoff with former labor commissioner John Brooks of Raleigh, Michael Biesecker reports.

However, state law allows candidates in a statewide race who finish either .5 percent or less 10,000 votes behind a prevailing candidate to request a recount.

Though the primary won't be certified by the state Board of Elections until next week, complete but unofficial results show Brooks at 24.36 percent, candidate Ty Richardson at 24.18 percent and Raleigh lawyer Robin Anderson at 23.92 percent.

Both Richardson and Anderson filed for a recount by the deadline Thursday.

The Democratic presidential race drew a lot of reader interest.

Posts on Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton drew the most readers on the Under the Dome blog since April 1, thanks in part to links from Talking Points Memo, The Daily Kos, Andrew Sullivan, Facing South, Isaac Hunter's Tavern, From Fay to Z and Sister Toldjah.

Counting down the Five Most Viewed of Primary '08:

5. Turnout so far: 8 percent: Elections board reports receiving nearly a half million ballots, for 8.4 percent turnout, through absentee and early voting.

4. Elections board hunting robocaller: State Board of Elections looking for people responsible for confusing robocalls about voter registration.

3. More illegal robocalls in Durham? Former N&O reporter receives illegal robocall about mail-in ballots after the state's deadline has passed.

2. Price, Watt to endorse Obama: U.S. Reps. David Price and Mel Watt, both superdelegates, announce their support for Obama in mid-April.

1. Council backs Obama: Cumberland County Commissioner Jeanette Council, a superdelegate, announces her support for Obama on the eve of the May 6 primary.

A Durham voter got another odd robocall about voting.

Christina Headrick, a former reporter for the N&O, says she received a misleading call Sunday from a "woman with a professional sounding voice" about mail-in voting.

Here is what the woman said:

"Have you ever wondered how you can vote by mail? From the convenience of your own home? Your vote has never been more important than it is in this critical election year. And this is a great way to ensure your voice is heard. If you would like to vote by mail, please press 1. If not, hang up."

Absentee ballots must have been requested before last Tuesday and returned in the mail by 5 p.m. today. In short, there is no way that it would be helpful for anyone to receive information about mail-in voting yesterday.

She tried to look for a caller ID using *69, but the number was either out of the area or from a restricted caller. It is against state law for robocallers to not identify themselves.

She has notified elections watchdog Democracy North Carolina, which is asking Attorney General Roy Cooper and the State Board of Elections to look into the calls.