Back in April, as I strolled through Bond Park in Cary, North Carolina, admiring the baubles and kitsch on display at the local spring arts and crafts festival, I noticed a man with a clipboard collecting signatures. Having been the man with the clipboard in the past, I decided I would save him the trouble of approaching me and go to him. He said he was with the Green Party, and politely requested that I help them get ballot access for the midterm elections.

Despite some of the weirdness I have experienced from Green supporters before, I bear them no ill will. More importantly, I don’t believe that being a little kooky should limit your access to democratic institutions. Thinking nothing of it, I gave him my signature and went back to pushing my son’s stroller. Hours later I noticed he was still at it, standing in the sweltering Southern springtime heat asking strangers for their signature while I enjoyed some brews in the shade. I admired his hustle.

When I innocuously signed that petition, I could not have imagined that three months later I would be drafting a declaration that would be used in a legal complaint against the North Carolina State Board of Elections. But here we are, and I’m in shock. I’m shocked not only by how difficult it is for third parties to get ballot access in the United States, but also by the events that unfolded next, demonstrating the lengths to which the political establishment will go in order to block that access.