What The Hell Is Up With New Mexico? Why Aren't The Votes Counted Yet?

[orleans]

my god! i could have done this faster if i had done it all by myself! are they sending registered letters to all the provisional ballot folks and just waiting for that return card in the mail?

wait! let me guess--richardson didn't think people would go out and vote since he had dropped out of the race...oh! oh! i'm right! (4th paragraph)

Colon couldn't offer an estimate for when the tabulation of provisional ballots would be completed but said he was confident the party will beat a Friday deadline for certifying caucus results.

"I'm very optimistic," he said.

Heavy turnout for the Feb. 5 caucus prompted long lines and organizers ran out of ballots at many polling sites. Richardson said he was disappointed that party officials weren't better prepared but felt Colon "has done a good job in rectifying the situation."

"It is obvious that what was not anticipated was that there was such a huge turnout," Richardson said. "Nonetheless, there should have been more ballots, more staff and more volunteers."

The governor said after the counting is finished, he plans to convene a meeting of Democrats, county officials and party leaders to discuss ways to improve the process for future elections.

Richardson feels the February date should remain, as it gives New Mexico early recognition in the presidential race and attracts candidates. He won't support moving it back to June "because then we're irrelevant."

"I do believe it's important to keep the pre-primary early in February," he said. "Perhaps we should resort to the state running it. I'd be open to that."

About 8,000 provisional ballots were deemed cast by registered Democrats and were therefore qualified to be counted as of Tuesday. The Democrats would not say how many more of the 17,276 ballots they had left to qualify.

Volunteers working four-hour shifts confirmed are comparing voters' names against county lists of registered Democrats. A second search was added to compare the names against a statewide database.

"Our volunteers are working very hard to ensure that every
http://www.lcsun-news.com/ci_8240626

oh blablabla!