Most states routinely decide which political parties are qualified, within days of tabulating their official election returns. But in recent decades, the New Mexico Secretary of State has developed a habit of not declaring which parties are qualified until months after the election.

The employee of the Secretary of State’s office who is in charge of determining which parties are qualified says he will release his analysis on Monday, April 20. It seems obvious that the Independent Party is ballot-qualified, because it polled over one-half of 1% of the vote for president in November 2008 (its nominee was Ralph Nader). It is likely that the Green Party and the Constitution Party are also ballot-qualified. The Green Party polled over 5% of the entire statewide vote in November 2008 for a candidate for State Regulation Commission. The Constitution Party submitted a party petition in 2008, and precedent says that when a party submits a party petition, it gets two elections, not just one.