RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- North Carolina voters should have additional candidates to choose from beginning this fall thanks to a new law that makes it easier for third parties to get on ballots. 

The new state elections board plans to consider the application of the Green Party to become an official state party at its meeting Tuesday. 

Currently only the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian Party are official parties that automatically get their candidates on ballots for federal, state and local offices in North Carolina. 

A law approved last October that reduces the number of signatures for parties to qualify also gives them another qualification route if their candidates appeared on ballots in at least 35 states in the last presidential election. The Green Party is using this new qualification method.