An earlier post today mentions that the Arkansas Secretary of State has determined that Rocky Anderson did not have enough valid signatures to be on the ballot as an independent presidential candidate. The same office has also determined that American Third Position also did not have enough valid signatures, nor did the independent presidential petition for Virgil Goode. This means that the only presidential petition that succeeded this year was the petition of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

The Green Party and the Libertarian Party were already qualified parties, so they did not need to petition for President. Arkansas requires 1,000 signatures for independent presidential candidates, and also requires 1,000 signatures for unqualified parties to place a presidential nominee on the ballot.

According to this story, the Connecticut Secretary of State says it will take two to three weeks to check the only statewide presidential petition submitted this year, the petition for the Libertarian ticket. The petition has 12,686 signatures. The law requires 7,500 valid.

Mitt Romney’s announcement on August 11 that Paul Ryan is his choice for the Republican nomination for vice-president did not end all the suspense about the identity of presidential and vice-presidential nominations. Some ballot-qualified parties still have not chosen their presidential and vice-presidential nominees.

The most important of the parties that haven’t nominated yet, but which will, is the New York Independence Party. That party cannot nominate a presidential candidate until after its new state committee is in place. State committee elections for New York state parties are on September 13. It is considered extremely likely that the Independence Party will nominate President Obama, even though in 2008 it nominated John McCain. In 2004 it had nominated Ralph Nader; in 2000 it had nominated John Hagelin; in 1996 it had nominated Ross Perot. UPODATE: Bill Van Allen points out that New York state now requires qualified parties to submit their list of presidential elector candidates by September 10, so the Independence Party must decide on a presidential nominee before the September 13 primary.

Other parties that are on the ballot in a single state, and which always nominate someone for President, and which haven’t nominated yet, are: (1) Liberty Union in Vermont; (2) Independent Party of Connecticut; (3) Alaskan Independence Party. The Connecticut Independent Party will nominate on August 21. It is not known when the Alaskan Independence Party, or Liberty Union, will nominate. If any reader knows, please comment.