On September 11, the New Mexico Secretary of State filed this brief in New Mexico Forward Party v Toulouse Oliver, 26-2145. This is the ballot access case in which the Forward Party challenges the law that requires one petition to qualify a new party, and then (after the new party nominates candidates by convention), each nominated candidate must submit his or her own petition.

The Secretary’s brief, in an attempt to show that New Mexico has reasonable ballot access laws for minor parties, points out that in the last ten years, candidates from the American Delta Party, the Constitution Party, and the Better for America Party have appeared on the ballot. But the brief does not say that these parties only appeared on the ballot for president. The law requiring nominee petitions does not apply to presidential candidates. so the fact that those three parties appeared does not relate to the nominee petition issue at all.

Toward the end of the brief, it mentions that the Attorney General yesterday filed an amicus brief on the side of the Forward Party. The Secretary’s brief asserts that the Attorney General’s brief merely duplicates the Forward Party’s brief, but that is not true. The Attorney General’s amicus brief points out that the nominee petitions aren’t required for presidential nominees, a very important point that is not in the Tenth Circuit Forward Party brief.