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.

On April 16, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court noted probable jurisdiction in Ralph Nader’s new appeal of the fees that were assessed against him in 2004. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court had taken a similar action last month in the Green Party’s 2006 case, which was very similar.

Although most readers of this blog are probably already familiar with the issue, to restate it: Pennsylvania is the only state that has ever had a policy of charging petitioning candidates for the administrative costs of removing them from the ballot. Even Pennsylvania had never done such a thing, until 2004, when it was invented to be used against Nader.

Juneau, Alaska has been unrepresented in the Alaska State Senate for the last month. The original Senator, Kim Elton (a Democrat), had resigned to accept an appointment in the Obama administration. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin believes she is entitled to choose any Democrat for the vacant seat, unless the full legislature vetoes her choice. But Democratic Senators believe that the Governor may only appoint a Democrat suggested by Senate Democrats. Two gubernatorial appointees, Tim Grussendorf and more recently Joe Nelson, have failed to be seated. The Alaska legislature adjourns in little more than a week.