Posted on 11/08/2006 9:02:09 AM PST by CedarDave
She was the Democrats' best hope against U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, their No. 1 star in an election season scarred by scandal and war.
And Attorney General Patricia Madrid still might be. But we probably won't know for sure until the end of the week. Or next week.
After the congressional candidates spent a long evening playing cat-and-mouse in their vote tallies, they went into the morning hours with Wilson holding a 1,303-vote lead.
But their fate is bound up in two sets of uncounted ballots totaling more than 5,000 votes.
One group consists of more than 2,000 ballots rejected by the ballot-reading machines. They were being hand-counted by weary poll workers this morning.
A second set includes the ballots of 2,698 provisional voters and another 1,058 who cast "in lieu of" votes. Those probably won't start to be counted until Thursday, according to the Bernalillo County Clerk's Office.
With 460 of 465 precincts reporting, unofficial results from the Associated Press gave Wilson 100,027 votes to Madrid's 98,724.
~~ snip ~~
If Madrid ends up winning, it would be a big victory for the party, given the uphill battle that challengers face against incumbents, said University of New Mexico political science professor Christine Sierra.
If she loses, it could be hard for the Democrats to challenge Wilson again, she said.
"It does feel like it would be very difficult to unseat her," Sierra said.
A majority of the voters in the district are Democrats, but a Republican has represented it since 1969.
Wilson, since her first election in 1998, has faced close races, but has usually dominated in early and absentee voting. This year, the Democrats appeared to narrow the gap, thanks in part to President Bush's low approval ratings and a hard-hitting Madrid campaign tying Wilson to his administration.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqtrib.com ...
What comes next?
Bernalillo County voting officials early today said two sets of ballots remained for hand-counting.
One group, estimated at about 2,000, is ballots that could not be machine-read. That count should be wrapped up today.
Another 2,698 provisional ballots and 1,058 "in lieu of" ballots - voters who say they never received an absentee ballot in the mail but instead voted at their precinct - won't be counted until canvassing begins Thursday or Friday, officials said.
If Wilson falls behind, this race will end up in court due to the egregious undersupply of ballots in many Republican precincts. Republicans were seriously disenfrachised in this election. It is a disgrace.
It would sure be nice to win a close one instead of losing it!
Agreed. But how do you provide redress in such an incident? You can't add votes to the total. The only thing to do would be to throw the entire the entire race out and hold another special election. And I shudder to think about that option.
ping
She did, but did not ask the polls at those two precincts to remain open as the problems were corrected by mid-morning. Still, there were people who no doubt left and didn't come back later.
Wilson needs to win about 1850 of the 5000 remaining ballots to be re-elected.
Or if 37% of the remaining go for Wilson, she wins.
I like her chances.
"Another 2,698 provisional ballots and 1,058 "in lieu of" ballots - voters who say they never received an absentee ballot in the mail but instead voted at their precinct - won't be counted until canvassing begins Thursday or Friday, officials said."
I stood behind someone who said she was fraudulently registered as absentee.
With the history of dem vote fraud in NM, this seems like "The Impossible Dream"...there are most likely boxes of dem ballots lying around in closets and car trunks. Can't be optimistic, sorry.
I just looked at the latest voter tally for Heather's race. The clerk has put in a bunch of recently counted ballots and her lead has dropped from 1,303 to 1,048, a loss of 255 votes. The link to the Journal blog is shown below:
http://www.abqjournal.com/abqnews/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1713&Itemid=2
1:55pm UPDATE: Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera is now saying the county canvass, with its more than 3,700 "in lieu of" and provisional ballots to be counted, probably won't be completed until Friday, according to the latest story from The Associated Press.
Do I hear drip, drip, drip...
U.S. House Dist. 1
462 of 465 precincts (99%)
as of 2:39 p.m.
Heather Wilson (i) 102,343 - 50%
Patricia Madrid 100,979 - 50%
All results unofficial
Heather's gained 316 votes and leads by 1,364 votes
Meanwhile, New Mexico Democrats filed a lawsuit late Wednesday asking a judge to clarify how provisional ballots will be evaluated.
According to Democratic Party chairman John Wertheim, state law allows provisional ballots to be counted if they include a signature and the voter can be identified. A secretary of state's regulation, by contrast, allows ballots to be challenged under certain conditions, such as a missing initial.
Wertheim called it "a friendly lawsuit'' and said Democrats sought to list New Mexico's county clerks, the state Republican Party and even Wilson's campaign as potential interested parties in the case.
"It's been a problem in the past and we thought it would be in everyone's interest to get it resolved before the provisional ballots are counted, rather than afterward,'' Wertheim said.
Republicans didn't immediately respond to telephone messages seeking to determine whether they'd support the effort.
I'm waiting for a box or two of ballots to be found in the back of some warehouse to give the little rat a victory.
It wouldn't be the first time.
It certainly wouldn't be the first time.
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