Dianna J. Durbin, New Mexico Secretary of State, has sent a letter to all registered members of the Green Party, and all registered members of the Constitution Party, telling each voter that their party has been removed from the ballot because it didn’t poll as much as one-half of 1% of the presidential vote last year. The letters are dated November 5, 2013.

Durbin had informed the state chairs of these two parties in July 2013 that the two parties are off the ballot. Both parties had successfully petitioned to be on the ballot in 2012.

Her July 2013 ruling was a surprise, because during the period 1997 through 2011, the law was interpreted to mean that when a party submits a successful party petition, it gets the next two elections, not just one election. The law is ambiguous and reads, “A qualified party shall cease to be qualified if two successive general elections are held without at least one of the party’s candidates on the ballot or if the total votes cast for the party’s candidates for governor or president, provided that the party has a candidate seeking election to either of those offices, in a general election do not equal at least one-half of 1% of the total vote cast.” The question is whether the phrase “two successive general elections” modifies both clauses in the sentence, or just the first clause.”

But in any event, even if the Secretary of State’s reversal of prior precedent is correct, the law says that notice of disqualification must be given to the state party chairs by March 15 of the year after the election, and the letter to all the members must go out no later than 45 days after March 15, which is April 29. So the notice to the state chairs was four months too late and the letter to all the members is over six months too late. It is likely that a lawsuit will be filed this month to reverse the decision that the parties are off the ballot. Thanks to Carol Miller for the news about the letters. None of this relates to the current status of the Libertarian Party, because the Libertarian Party polled 3.55% of the presidential vote in 2012. The Libertarian Party did, however, fail to poll one-half of 1% for President in 1976, 1992, 2000, 2004, and 2008.