JURIST - Paper Chase: New Mexico stops counting for the night

[JURIST Election Special] 5:00 AM ET - NBC is reporting that New Mexico elections officials have stopped counting ballots for the night. With 99% of precincts reporting:

Bush - 333,525 (50%)
Kerry - 322,571 (49%)

Earlier this morning, there were reports that Bush would declare victory in the election if New Mexico is called for Bush.

5:05 AM ET - Some voters in Ohio counties were confused about whether or not they could vote for Ralph Nader, according to a Columbus Dispatch report. Nader was ordered off the ballot over a month ago, but his name appeared on Ohio ballots. Some elections officials decided not to remove Nader's name from the ballot, but others decided to cover the name.

5:12 AM ET - Election Law @ Moritz now has analysis of how and when provisional ballots will be counted in Ohio. Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell issued a directive last week on provisional ballots. The clarity of the directive is the subject of a lawsuit filed Tuesday (Schering v. Blackwell - complaint here [PDF]).

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