New Mexico is one of the thirteen states that gives state income taxpayers an opportunity to send a donation to a qualified political party, via the state income tax form. Except for Ohio, all these thirteen states list the qualified parties and let the taxpayer choose one.

Unfortunately, New Mexico has a recent history of poor election administration, and of mistakes. Twice in the last ten years, when the New Mexico Tax office has asked the New Mexico Secretary of State which parties should be listed on the income tax form, the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office has erroneously told the Tax office to just list the Democratic and Republican Parties. This last occurred in 2010, and the 2010 New Mexico state income tax forms only included the Democratic and Republican Parties, even though they should have included the Libertarian, Constitution, and Independent Parties.

Fortunately, the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office has done a better job this month, and has informed the Tax office to include the Libertarian and Independent Parties on the 2011 forms. The Constitution Party is no longer ballot-qualified because it did not run any candidates in 2010. The Independent Party is little-known in New Mexico. It was created by Ralph Nader in 2008 and because it polled over one-half of 1% for President in 2008, it retains ballot qualification in 2010 and 2012.