Today, the US Supreme Court refused to hear Nader v Serody, no. 04-550. This was Nader’s appeal of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that kept him off the ballot last year.

The issue in the Pennsylvania case was somewhat inappropriate for the US Supreme Court. It was strictly a matter of proper interpretation of Pennsylvania state law, not a constitutional case. It is unclear whether Pennsylvania actually requires petition signers to be registered voters, or just eligible to register to vote. Nader’s US Supreme Court appeals from Texas and Oregon are still pending.

On January 6, 2005, the New Mexico Secretary of State confirmed in writing that the New Mexico Green Party is still a qualified party. However, it is now a qualified minor party, not a qualified major party. This means it nominates by convention, not primary. It is still a qualified party because it polled over one-half of 1% for Governor in 2002.

Rick Jore’s website has 7 votes that were not marked strictly according to instructions, but which seem to show intent to vote for Jore. Nevertheless, the Montana Supreme Court invalidated all of these 7 votes.

Jore’s webpage also shows 2 votes that were not marked strictly according to instructions either, but which seem to show intent to vote for the Democratic candidate. These two ballots were, indeed, counted for the Democratic nominee.