Posted on 11/04/2004 8:42:07 PM PST by CedarDave
County clerks waded through provisional ballots Thursday, working toward a final unofficial tally of New Mexico's election results.
The Associated Press tally with most absentee votes counted late Thursday had President Bush leading by 8,366 votes.
But there were at least 19,500 uncounted paper ballots— so-called provisional and in-lieu-of ballots— statewide, according to a survey Thursday of most of New Mexico's 33 county clerks by The Associated Press. Provisional ballots, required by the 2002 federal Help America Vote Act, allow people to vote even if their name isn't listed at the polling place. In-lieu-of ballots are used by voters who said they didn't get the absentee ballot they requested.
The largest number of uncounted ballots were in the state's most populous county, Bernalillo, with about 11,200 provisional ballots and about 1,800 in-lieu of ballots. Doña Ana County has more than 2,700 provisional ballots to qualify.
Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera said election workers began checking provisional ballots Thursday to determine whether the person who cast the ballot was an eligible voter. Herrera said she should know how many of the provisionals are good by late Saturday. However, the ballots will not be counted until the Nov. 12 canvass, she said.
Many other counties planned to canvass results Thursday and today. The state canvassing board will certify statewide results Nov. 23.
President Bush captured New Mexico in Tuesday's election, with 50 percent of the vote to Kerry's 49 percent, according to an AP tally of unofficial results from all of New Mexico's county clerks.
The Secretary of State's Office was still compiling unofficial results from the counties. At one point Thursday afternoon, the secretary of state's Web site showed Kerry holding an 1,838-vote lead over Bush in New Mexico. Those results, however, did not include updated tallies from several counties.
For example, in heavily Republican Chaves County, the secretary of state reported 1,293 votes for Bush and 449 for Kerry. In fact, the county's unofficial ballot total was much higher: 14,748 votes for Bush and 6,716 for Kerry, according to Clerk Dave Kunko.
Ernest Ortega, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office, said the state's tally was slowed by the different manner in which counties reported results to the secretary of state. "They're fluid results, depending on how counties report their results to us," he said. Later Thursday, the Web site had been updated to show Bush ahead by 6,810 votes.
Copyright 2004, The Albuquerque Journal
Last I saw about 345 adobe ballots were still out
Well, let's see...Texas? No problem. California? No problem. Alaska? No problem. Wyoming? No problem.
I guess what was really meant was "it takes time and effort to generate enough Democrat votes fraudulently without creating too much suspicion."
Will W reach 60 million?!
It appears Richardson is doing his best to steal NM by dragging out the count.
An earlier thread reported people coming up from El Paso to vote. Having registered with ACORN or some other groups, they weren't required to produce ID. As long as they remembered which fake address they registered with, they were o.k. to vote.
He's trying real hard to do just that -- even in his public statements, he says not to give it to Bush prematurely. Lots of uncounted ballots!!
Dinky little state and it takes them forever to count a few votes? Hell, they better start now for the next election. Pitiful.
It may be called back.
IOWS...we need a STANDARD election process at least for the Presidency so we can know late on election night who the winner is....
right now, it seems no state knows how many votes are out there, no one can predict if absentee ballots will be used, no one knows anything....
thus...we have states still having provisional ballots out there, let alone absentee.....
we need to stop this crap....
one election day , period...
there must be some restriction on voting...not to prevent people from voting , but to prevent late voting.....
people that don't get their absentee, so they say, or people new to the area, must appear in person to sign up for the election...say 48 hrs before the election....
that way, on election day, the states know exactly how many possible votes there are...
voting for the President is of national concern, and we shouldn't be held hostage to some states refusal to run smooth, organized and problem free elections....
On another subject, I drove through New Mexico last Spring and that state has the fastest, rudest drivers I've ever seen anywhere. They're much worse than bitchy California freeway drivers. At one point I was driving back down I-25 from Santa Fe at 82 mph in a 75 zone and some guy in a big pickup tailgates me and sits 10 feet behind me while we're both going 82 mph. I stepped on the gas, passed the guy on my right, moved to the right and flipped that a##hole off as he passed me. I don't mind people wanting to pass even when I'm 7 mph over the speed limit. I let them pass, but just don't tailgate me at high speeds.
Looks like my first impression was right, Dave.
The fix is on.
Richardson cannot afford to lose the political capital it would cost him by losing this state for Kerry, even if it doesn't effect the final outcome.
W I I W N M ?
As they say in New Mexico Magazine...
"One of our 50 is missing"
It will be a National embarassment for Richardson
when they paint that state fire engine red.
:o)
No doubt they are busily creating a Kerry victory.
But with the rise of Obama, Richardson is reduced to Secretary of Goiters & Bolo Ties in 2008.
He has an emetic effect which would be a net negative to a ticket: the oiliness of Edwards without the [hair, looks, law degree, fortune, or other].
Richardson's Third District held the position of number one in the nation for heroin-overdose deaths.
Emilio Naranjo wrote the book on dirty politics, Northern New Mexico's Richard Daley.
Perhaps that H & K MP-5 crew from the Elian raid descending on the mansion in Santa Fe, fast-roping with Ashcroft:
"Governor Richardson, I have a warrant for your arrest."
Or use U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, a former Navy JAG.
That's the ticket.
I knew it.
I saw an old hippy here walking out of the local gourmet food market looking so sad and dejected that it almost made me cry. Almost....
I love it. I really do.
Hopefully, the GOP will properly orchestrate it so the Dems can't steal it.
Doesn't NM have any fair (or Repub.) workers who are involved in double-checking the counting process right now?
If there's a chance of fraud, shouldn't Repubs. be on this already while it's being counted....instead of waiting 'til after the fact?
How hard would it be to smuggle more bogus provisional ballots into a Dem precinct? GOP eyeballs cannot be fixed on all points at all times. You think a GOP rep is staying by the ballots all night long? You think the Dems do not have vote "counters" on the payroll? The counters themselves can smuggle in new provisional ballots. Let's not be naive, folks. If the Dems intend to steal it, they will steal it. The only hope is that the GOP will delay the release of their precincts to give them time to "respond."
So ridiculous. We have to adopt national standards, do away with provisionals and insist on photo i.d. with proof of CURRENT address.
-T
-T
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