Posted on 11/09/2004 6:34:03 PM PST by DesertDreamer
Out of 13,000 provisional and in-lieu-of ballots, Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera said today she has only qualified 3,000 as legitimate votes.
"We have about eight boxes that didn't qualify," Herrera said today. "They were not registered to vote."
Another 2,000, she said, were in a "questionable" category, and would be reviewed and certified today.
Provisional ballots were the final hang-up for Bernalillo County in counting votes for the 2004 election.
The paper ballots are given to people who show up on Election Day but whose voter information does not appear immediately on the voter registration lists. Likewise, in-lieu-of ballots are given to voters who applied for absentee ballots but who did not receive one by the time Election Day rolled around.
Herrera has until Friday to turn her final election count in to the New Mexico Secretary of State's Office. The final statewide canvass of votes, which will certify and finalize the election, is set Nov. 23.
Herrera said her staff worked until midnight Monday, and started again at 7 a.m. today.
"We're getting ready for Friday," Herrera said. "We're in a crunch."
Herrera had been rejecting ballots at a rate of about 25 percent as of late Monday.
Herrera started this week with about 11,200 provisional ballots, and about 1,800 in-lieu-of ballots.
Part of the crunch for Herrera comes from the 2,000 questionable ballots she said her staff will review today.
Those ballots were set aside pending a review of questions Herrera had for Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron.
One question Herrera asked was whether or not she could open the inner envelope of a provisional ballot's two-envelope package to find correct identification documents not provided on the outer envelope.
In her letter to Herrera, Vigil-Giron said unless required identification documents were on the outer envelope, the ballot should be disqualified and the inner envelope could not be opened.
In addition, Vigil-Giron told Herrera that just signing the outer envelope was not a substitute for providing proper identification.
But for now, Vigil-Giron's attentions are on Sandoval and Do§a Ana counties.
In a news conference Monday, Vigil-Giron said she had asked the New Mexico Supreme Court to rule about how much access partisan political operatives should have to provisional ballot qualifying procedures.
Both counties have given too much access to the process and have allowed political party and candidate representatives access to "highly confidential" information, Vigil-Giron said, such as Social Security numbers and dates of birth.
"Concerns about identity theft, privacy and the sanctity of the election process must now be addressed and resolved," Vigil-Giron said in a prepared statement. "The privacy rights of provisional ballot voters should be protected the same as all other voters."
In light of the ongoing count, Vigil-Giron has taken some criticism from the New Mexico Republican Party.
"Rebecca Vigil-Giron's conduct and performance as our elected secretary of state has been inadequate at best and disgraceful at worst," state Republican Party Chairman Allen Weh said. "We're still counting ballots a week after Election Day, and she's blaming everybody but herself for these problems."
Weh suggested Vigil-Giron, a Democrat, consider resigning after the election.
But provisional ballot counting is ongoing all over the country. According to various news accounts, provisional ballots have hung up several smaller races in Texas, Ohio, California and North Carolina.
Since the presidential race has been close in New Mexico, the attention paid to provisional balloting has been intense.
At the county warehouse Monday, both political parties had representatives loitering, waiting, and closely watching the ballot counting process.
"It's about counting the votes and defending the integrity of the system," said Matt Farrauto, spokesman for the New Mexico Democratic Party.
Let me guess who the invalid votes were cast for. This is a fiasco worse than Florida in 2000.
WHAT? Unregistered voters filling out ballots? I'm shocked I say...SHOCKED!
What's next? Gambling in Casablanca? HORROR!
WHAT? Unregistered voters filling out ballots? I'm shocked I say...SHOCKED!
What's next? Gambling in Casablanca? HORROR!
This is just amazing. Bill Richardson was bragging before the election that they had signed up 10,000 new voters. I guess these are those very voters. Old Bill was gonna' steal it for the dems.
"Out of 13,000 provisional and in-lieu-of ballots, Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera said today she has only qualified 3,000 as legitimate votes.
"We have about eight boxes that didn't qualify," Herrera said today. "They were not registered to vote."
Another 2,000, she said, were in a "questionable" category, and would be reviewed and certified today. "
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So much for the Provisional Ballot Idea, and the Democratic plan to swamp the election with waves of illegal voters.
After they put the vote inside the double Envelope, I HOPE there is enough identifying information on the outside envelope to track down some of these people and charge them with Voter Fraud. If this is allowed to go on, it will just get worse and worse.
justice dept alert
They are accustomed to "finding" what is "needed"...Looks like this time it won't happen.
Why should there be any question at all about opening up the inner ballot? If the info isn't provide on the outer envelope, fuggedaboutit.
That's why they're provisional ballots. And that's why most are disqualified. We do the same thing here in VA, and let me assure you I wasn't rooting for John F. Kerry.
Fool us once (in 2000), shame on you. Fool us twice (in 2004) shame on us.
Can't you just feel the frothing-at-the-mouth ACLU lawyers writing their "Count EVERY vote" briefs?
He also promised Kerry he would "deliver" the state of NM. Weasely little crook.
Democrat Richardson is trying and doing anything and everything to find enough votes to give Kerry a win.
Richardson promised Kerry that he would deliver NM and he failed. It is a big black mark on his record with the gang known as the Democrats.
The RNC and Justice Department need to send some Dems in NM to jail for this fraud.
Whats up with the double posts Fledermaus ?
Computer whacking out on you, or are you just
practicig up the DemoRat voteing techinque..? ;-)
Thanks for the article. We're still trying to decide what to do here in LA as my husband and daughter were forced to vote provisional because their names were dropped from the voter registration list. They always vote so it feel suspiciously as though it was too easy to delete a couple of Republicans and demote them to a provisional ballot. And they did have to show ID at the precinct. Did this happen to any other California voters?
I blame Diebold! lol
I just didn't seem to post and when I hit "back" it showed up twice. I was sure I hit "post" just once!
Okay...you caught me. I was for Kerry! /sarcasm
Are these people breaking the law by casting illegal votes? Isn't it attempted Voter fraud?
More info.
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