Posted on 11/07/2006 1:57:33 PM PST by Stultis
U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson and an attorney for the state Republican Party this morning said at least two heavily Republican precincts in the Northeast Heights received only a fraction of the paper ballots needed, a move they called a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise GOP voters.
A spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office said it appeared to be a numerical error in which a zero was dropped. Two precincts that should have received 1,500 and 1,700 ballots, respectively, instead got 150 and 170.
"The (Bernalillo) county clerk should have checked it when they accepted the order," said Ray Baray of the Secretary of State's Office.
The GOP's announcement, combined with other claims of problems at the polls this morning, could foreshadow a protracted legal battle over the results of today's election.
"The county clerk has taken repeated steps to disenfranchise Republican voters," said Pat Rogers, an Albuquerque attorney representing state Republicans, who was speaking from the Courtyard Marriott hotel near Jefferson Street.
Liz Hamm, a spokeswoman for Bernalillo County, confirmed that at least two precincts ran out of ballots. She said the county was working to print more.
County Clerk Mary Herrera had a news conference scheduled this afternoon to address the ballot concerns.
Wilson, who has served in Congress since 1998, is in the middle of one of the closest political campaigns of her career as she battles Democratic state Attorney General Patricia Madrid.
Wilson said she visited precincts 603 at Church of the Good Shepherd, 7834 Tennyson St. N.E., this morning when, at 8:55 a.m., she said voters left the property claiming the polling place was out of ballots.
Wilson said the precinct, which has 2,474 registered voters, received only 150 paper ballots. The precinct, she said, is in a heavily Republican area where 67 percent of the voters supported her in the last election.
Precinct worker Linda Ransom confirmed that the precinct had received only 150 ballots, and ran out shortly before 9 a.m.
Precinct 602, located in the same church, also received 150 ballots, Wilson's campaign said.
Wilson said repeated calls to the County Clerks's Office prompted a delivery of 250 more ballots to Precinct 603. But she said poll workers were told they would have to continually ask for more ballots throughout the day.
On top of that, she said voters who were turned away were not given provisional ballots - typically given to registered voters whose names don't show up on a precinct's voter rolls. Voters turned away at the polls must receive provisional ballots under federal law.
Wilson said her campaign was working this morning to contact as many of the turned-away voters as possible. At a news conference this morning, she showed 2,500 pieces of copy paper that stood 18 inches high representing the registered voters of Precinct 603. Next to it was a pile of 150 pieces an inch or so high - a symbol of the discrepancy in ballots at the poll she visited.
"They're not even prepared to comply with federal law," said an indignant Wilson, dressed casually in khaki pants and a white polo shirt with "U.S. House of Representatives" embroidered on the front.
"I am demanding that sufficient ballots be immediately delivered," she said. "I am demanding that no one be turned away from their voting place."
Rogers said Bernalillo County Election Administrator Jaime Diaz told him this morning that the decision on how many ballots to stock at the polling places "was a decision of the county clerk."
Diaz was not immediately available for comment.
Said Rogers, "Someone is out to make it very difficult for Republican voters."
Rogers, though, said heading to court to challenge the balloting process should be a "last resort."
"But we would resort to the last resort if it's the only way to get people to do their federal duty," Rogers said.
Bernalillo County spokeswoman Liz Hamm confirmed that precincts 603 and 57 ran out of ballots before 9 a.m. today. She did not confirm whether precinct 602 was also shortchanged.
"Mary (Herrera) found out at 9 a.m. and within 30 minutes, they had everything on its way," Hamm said. Four hundred additional ballots were sent to Precinct 57 and it was unclear how many were sent to 603, Hamm said.
The county has contacted the printer should more ballots need to be printed today, she said this morning.
Hamm said she couldn't immediately address allegations by the Republicans about voter disenfranchisement.
The ballot shortage wasn't the only glitch at Albuquerque polling places this morning.
Even as the last TV ads from Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron touted the ease of voting early this morning, Joe Chavez said it was anything but easy at Precinct 435 in the Northeast Heights.
He arrived half an hour early at McKinley Middle School, but still had to wait in line, he said.
Then the poll workers said his state-issued voter-ID card wasn't sufficient to get a ballot. Chavez said the clerk told him he needed photo ID.
Chavez stood his ground. "I told her, `Hey, the law doesn't require picture ID.' She kind of looked at me and told me I had to."
He had a photo in his pocket, Chavez said, but held firm.
The clerks said every voter needed photo ID; Chavez pointed to their own instructions that said only certain voters whose names were marked on the registration list needed photo ID.
He showed them his name on the roster, he said, which matched his voter-ID card.
He also mentioned state law permits a person to vote simply by reciting their name and last four digits of their Social Security number. Even a water-utility bill is valid ID, he said.
No go. People behind him in line were not happy, he said.
"I could've just reached in my wallet and given them my driver's license," Chavez said. "But it's not required in this state. They made it very difficult."
The poll manager finally stepped in and allowed him to vote, he said.
"Had it been someone older or less educated, I think they would've been intimidated and left, not so much because of the people at the desk but the people behind them in line," Chavez said. "It was getting ugly."
Frankie Ewing and her husband arrived early at Precinct 216, at Encino House near Spruce Park in the University of New Mexico area.
She was the first person to turn in completed ballot, but the reader machine wouldn't take it, she said.
After numerous failed attempts to get the machines to read her ballot and that of her husband, poll workers said to slip the ballot into a locked box.
"It makes us a little anxious that things are not going right," Ewing said this morning. She was nervous that her vote might not be counted, she said.
"The problem is not people impersonating voters" or using fake ID to get a ballot, she said. "The problem is they don't count all these votes."
Ewing said she's already convinced that some absentee ballots are never counted, which is why she waits until Election Day to cast her vote.
It only took about 10 minutes to fill out the new ballot, she said. But if a voter makes an error, they're supposed to request a new ballot.
"People make errors all the time," Ewing said. "It could be a zoo."
Overall, however, she prefers paper ballots to electronic voting, because of the paper trail.
But then I read this...
Wilson said the precinct, which has 2,474 registered voters, received only 150 paper ballots. The precinct, she said, is in a heavily Republican area where 67 percent of the voters supported her in the last election.
Unless I'm reading something wrong here, the state of New Mexico has admitted that they knowingly were going to under ballot at least one of these precincts. 1500 ballots would be projecting roughly a 60% turnout for this precinct.
"I still dont know why we dont go back to paper ballots using check marks."
We have a long early voting period, plus absentees. That cuts down election day turnout, but there's no excuse to not have an ample supply of ballots.
Yeah, mistakes happen. Like when Richardon accidentally discovered marked ballots in a bathroom in 2004.
Sorry, but no comparison can be made. Dems frequently commit fraud and violence in elections. It's a rarity when a Rep is caught doing the same.
This is a legit complaint. Voters have the right to cast a vote once if they are legal, registered and at the right precinct. They have been denied here.
I hope legal action and punishment occurs - Republicans just have to pursue remedies until this crap stops.
| GOP calls ballot shortage malicious KRQE, NM - ALBUQUERQUE -- The New Mexico Republican Party believes the lack of ballots at some precincts was no accident, and party lawyers are threatening legal action. ... |
| Ballot shortage plagues precincts KRQE, NM - ALBUQUERQUE -- Voters began hitting the polls promptly at 7 am, and within just a couple of hours some precincts started reporting problems. ... |
Be it as it may, I still think it would be fairly practical to have at least one ballot per registered voter, just in case.
Perhaps, but then there would be a large number of loose ballots laying around. That would be another problem.
not in this case... this is pure BS...
The secretary of state should be jailed for tampering with an election...
typo my ass...
A judge should step in and put a stop to this and require a bunch of extra time (maybe even tomorrow) to make sure everyone got to vote. It works for democrats.
Loose ballots are a minor problem compared to no ballots.
Right. Better off with touch screen. No paper ballot.
The biggest problem that I see is that Richardson was not all over this Screaming on every TV station for those people to get that fixed. His failure to act out on this says to me that he knew of it and approves of this sort of behavior in Federal Elections.
Lose with "dignity"?? Get cheated wth "dignity"?? You, sir, are an idiot!
We can thank King Bill for this fiasco! He's a very evil man, and with his help he's going to put Patricia Madrid in office as our Congresswoman. She's as dumb as a rock, and has taken kick backs as our attorney general, so you know she's going to be selling her votes.
In parts of MN we use the scan method. You use a felt marker to color the ovals. It's scanned by a machine and if there is a problem, the ballots can be used to recount.
In other parts of MN, the computers are crashing, computers are still in trunks of election officials.
It's the responsibility of each community to have the correct number of ballots. I'd like to see the nation use one method only....preferably the scan method as there's a back up in case of problems.
Why do the dimwits always have to cheat and lie?
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