Any party that had printed on the ballot at the last preceding presidential election the names of a set of presidential electors pledged to the election of the party’s candidates for president and vice president or a candidate for governor and those candidates for presidential electors or governor received at least five percent of the total vote cast for presidential electors or the office of governor within this state at that election; any party that had printed on the ballot at the last preceding nonpresidential election a candidate for attorney general or secretary of state, and the candidate received at least five percent of the total vote cast for the office the candidate was seeking at the election; or any party that has organized according to all the requirements of chapter 16.1-03 must be provided with a separate section on primary election ballots.

Any other political organization is entitled to endorse candidates or have candidates petition to be included on the primary ballot in a separate section of the consolidated primary election ballot, if a petition signed by at least seven thousand qualified electors of this state is filed with the secretary of state before four p.m. of the sixty-fourth day before a primary or special election, naming the political organization, stating the platform principles of the party, and requesting the names of its candidates to be included on the state’s primary ballot in a separate section. Political organizations that are granted ballot access under this section are allowed ballot access only for those offices for which the organization has identified candidates. Regardless of the means by which the petition is delivered, the original must be in the possession of the secretary of state before four p.m. on the sixty-fourth day prior to a primary or special election. Candidates of that party are entitled to the same rights and privileges as those of other parties. Petitions circulated according to this section must be filed with the secretary of state in accordance with section 1-01-50.

A political organization that had printed on the ballot at the last preceding presidential election the names of a set of presidential electors pledged to the election of the party’s candidates for president and vice president or a candidate for governor and those candidates for presidential electors or governor received at least five percent of the total vote cast for presidential electors or the office of governor within this state at that election, and any political organization that has printed on the ballot at the last preceding nonpresidential election a candidate for attorney general or secretary of state, and the candidate received at least five percent of the total vote cast for the office the candidate was seeking at the election are entitled to organize according to the requirements of chapter 16.1-03.