The Rutherford Institute is challenging two facets of the Virginia election law: one requires the (D) and (R) to have the lead spots on the ballot, the other requires a certain number of signatures before a third party can be on the ballot. If this is successful, they may carry it over to other states.The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Libertarian Party of Virginia, several Libertarian Party candidates and an independent (non-party) candidate for public office in the November 2014 general election.

John Whitehead describes the reasoning behind the suit: