There's something seriously wrong with the New Mexico Democrats

[EFerrari]

If you read this editorial, it says the party chairman anticipated a LOW turnout for the caucus while all around the country people where preparing for record turnouts. :wtf:



Editorial: If party can't count votes, voters can't count on NM
Issue date: 2/6/08 Section: Opinion

Once again, New Mexico lags behind.

As Arizona, Utah, California and other Western states declared winners just hours after their polls closed on Super Tuesday, New Mexico voters stood in lines that spiraled outside buildings and into parking lots.

It's no wonder the results weren't in.

After polls closed at 7 p.m., some voters waited more than three hours before they could exercise their constitutional right.

http://media.www.dailylobo.com/media/storage/paper344/news/2008/02/06/Opinion/Editorial.If.Party.Cant.Count.Votes.Voters.Cant.Count.On.Nm-3194796.shtml

[MonkeyFunk]

1. Gah

that's infuriating.

[tyne]

3. Sounds like

"you did a heckofajob Brownie" moment.

[EFerrari]

13. Maybe he was a tight budget? That's the only thing

I can think of that begins to make sense.

There's a lot of strange election stuff in New Mexico -- vote brokering and the NA and Latino vote is messed with every time.

[MonkeyFunk]

16. It makes no sense at all

he was expecting 30-40 thousand. In 2004 they had about 100,000. Tuesday they had 155,000.

How on EARTH does someone make a mistake that egregious and still have a job?

[CreekDog]

2. And you thought Alabama's motto was "Thank God for Mississippi"

So is New Mexico's, sad to say.

Man am I going to get flamed.

[EFerrari]

4. I've never heard that expression.

Get ready. :)

[KittyWampus]

5. Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colon

incompetent.

[CreekDog]

18. Move one letter and you get Brain Colon

Sounds like it to me!

[CreekDog]

23. It just means that they would be ranked 50th in everything

but that's Mississippi's job.

[Bake]

27. Hey! We're FIRST in some things!

Like obesity, e.g.

Bake

[EFerrari]

28. Hey, Bake. How are things out there?

Is everybody okay after those storms? I've been afraid to ask.

[Bake]

33. We made it OK in Jackson/Madison area

No tornados that I know of. Oxford (home of Ole Miss) and Southaven (suburb of Memphis) got it pretty hard. My folks up in Jackson, TN are fine, no damage, although my alma mater Union Univ. got devastated.

Thanks for asking!

:hi:

Bake

[EFerrari]

36. Thank goodness. The footage on teevee this morning

was awful! I'm glad you guys are all right.

[Bake]

39. I can hardly stand to look at the pictures from the campus

And the retirement community where my late grandmother once lived was hit too. At least my family members are all OK.

Thanks again!

Bake

[CreekDog]

30. Teenage pregnancy

where does Jamie Lynn live?

[Bake]

34. I thought she was from Louisiana!

You know, everybody's got to have SOMEbody to look down on!

:rofl:

Bake

[CreekDog]

35. Boyfriend is from Mississippi

:rofl:

[lastliberalintexas]

11. Hey! That's our motto thank you very much

Especially after Perry's terms in office...

http://intellectualize.org/archives/010888.html

[robbedvoter]

6. 2000, 2004 and now - all too close results, all flipping last minutes, all late counts

It's a small state (diebolded too). What's the problem with the counting?

[jakem]

7. after all the Heather Wilson nonsense-

it is amazing that NM dems have any hope left.

[Crabby Appleton]

8. The article's author gets one thing incorrect, there isn't

a constitutional right to vote in a primary. A FL or MI Dem could probably tell them about that.

[EFerrari]

10. I caught that, too. The writer really didn't need to go there,

the situation is bad enough without invoking the Constitution!

[underpants]

9. They're new, they're just working out the kinks

the OLD Mexico? Now THAT'S some electing!!

[TwilightGardener]

12. I vacationed in NM last summer. I found that a lot of things in the state weren't...uh..

very well done. Seems like a poor/rich state: lots of poor people, with a few rich people in concentrated areas--as always seems to be the case with truly beautiful areas of the country. Not much common-sense middle class.

[Gloria]

14. This is true....Easy money for Branson but we have to beg for winter

coats for the poor kids...

[EFerrari]

15. I went through Gallup once on the way to the Grand Canyon.

It was about the most depressing place I've ever seen in my life. :(

[rucky]

31. It was pretty much all poor before the CA mass migration.

the good old days when there was nothing to do but grab a 6-pack and head up to the mountains.

[mopinko]

17. this is why i couldn't get on the richardson bandwagon

after the '04 debacle, i just couldn't forgive. now i am glad i didn't.

[EFerrari]

20. It's scandalous. I wonder how many kids stood there for two hours

and said, never again.

[blm]

19. Add that to Richardson speedily erasing 2004 votes when complaints piled up.

.

[EFerrari]

21. I have a feeling that New Mexico could make Illinois look like Iowa

if all the skelatons came out of the closet.

[blm]

24. I've been thinking that about every state.

Scratch the surface and the stuff that pours out is astounding.

[EFerrari]

25. That's probably right. There were all kinds of stories out of Iowa, too,

come to think of it.

[blm]

26. Inever believed we lost Iowa or NC, either.

.

[EFerrari]

29. Don't get me started!

:hi:

[TexasObserver]

22. No one in that state can count

I don't know why, but it's always true.

[adapa]

32. here's the latest vote count form NM with ALL precents finaly reporting but no provisional ballots

Written by Bruce Daniels - ABQnewsSeeker
Thursday, 07 February 2008
Clinton still leading Obama in statewide vote 68,654 to 67,531.

<9:50am update>That missing Sandoval County precinct has finally been tallied, giving Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama 3,584 votes (47.12 percent) to Hillary Clinton's 3,224 votes (42.39 percent) with all of Sandoval's five voting sites now in, according to the New Mexico Democratic Party Web site.

That now brings Clinton's statewide total (including absentee ballots) to 68,654 to Obama's 67,531 -- a margin of 1,123 votes (which is actually a little larger than the 1,092-vote Clinton edge reported earlier today).

Party officials earlier said the precinct delayed reporting because workers there had mistakenly mixed up ballots and figures from two congressional districts.

In the new (but still unofficial) Sandoval County tally, now-withdrawn presidential candidate John Edwards picked up 11 votes from the missing precinct, Dennis Kucinich picked up two and Gov. Bill Richardson, picked up five more, making his county total 59.

Another 199 provisional ballots were added to the county's previous total of 454, according to the Democrats' Web site.

8:45am UPDATE: Results are still not available from one Sandoval County precinct where officials mistakenly mixed ballots and figures from two congressional districts, and Democrats were trying to sort out the figures before releasing the results, Laura E. Sanchez, executive director of the state Democratic Party, told The Associated Press.

Meanwhile, the AP is reporting, the Clinton campaign has set up a hotline for New Mexico voters to voice their concerns about the caucus, and Mara Lee, state director of the Clinton campaign, said they had heard from hundreds of voters as of Wednesday.

"What my concern is mostly that the party system broke down yesterday, and I don't want New Mexicans to be punished," Lee told the AP.

Y JEFF JONES AND RAAM WONG
Journal Staff Writers

Now comes the time-consuming process of checking each provisional ballot to ensure it qualifies.
Thousands of provisional ballots were given to voters who cast ballots outside of their designated caucus site, voters whose names couldn’t be found on the Democratic party’s rolls, and voters who had requested absentee ballots but decided instead to vote in person.
But midafternoon Wednesday, ballot boxes were still being delivered to a northeast Albuquerque accounting firm where the counting will take place, and the counting had not begun.
Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colón said the count probably will take days.
“It is a time-consuming process,” said Democratic Party Executive Director Laura E. Sanchez.
Some problems from Tuesday’s vote continued Wednesday in Northern New Mexico.
A middle school in Chama served as the sole polling location for a snowy 30-square-mile area that included Tierra Amarilla and Dulce, and one voter called the Journal to complain that the distances that people had to travel from Dulce to Chama effectively disenfranchised them.
Lydia Archuleta, the volunteer who managed the polling site, said Chama had been used during the 2004 caucus as well.
She acknowledged that voters may have stayed at home after hearing that Chama had been declared a disaster area because of heavy snow. But she added that the roads were clear all day Tuesday, and none of the 324 people who cast ballots complained.
One voter said there was so much confusion at Santa Fe’s Capshaw Middle School during midafternoon voting that poll workers couldn’t keep track of who had signed in on voter registration sheets, raising the possibility of voter fraud.
Colón said that in rural areas where it was not practical to get ballot boxes back to Albuquerque on Tuesday night, it was not unusual for caucus site managers to report their results, seal the boxes and take them home to be delivered to Albuquerque the next day.
Sen. Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, said caucus planners should have foreseen a larger turnout, given the record numbers of voters that had cast ballots elsewhere.
“From what I am hearing, the caucus itself went very well. I’m disappointed the party wasn’t ready for the number of people who were there,” Sanchez said. “It seems like there should have been more ballots available.”
Journal staff writer Trip Jennings contributed to this story."

I copy pasted due to a required sign up at abqjournal site
http://www.abqjournal.com/abqnews/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6245&Itemid=2

[EFerrari]

37. Do you ever wonder if they COUNT those provisional ballots?

:shrug:

[stillcool]

38. Bill Richardson says he is...

"deeply disturbed"....
http://www.woi-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7835303

Still no winner in New Mexico as party officials deal with Democratic caucus problems

Associated Press - February 6, 2008 11:43 PM ET

Officials admit they were overwhelmed by a greater-than-expected turnout for the Super Tuesday caucus.

Governor Bill Richardson says he's "deeply disturbed" by election problems and long lines at caucus sites.

With 183 of 184 of precincts reporting late Wednesday, preliminary results showed Hillary Rodham Clinton held a lead of 1,092 votes over Barack Obama.

Party officials say the examination of the provisional ballots will be closed to the press, but will be attended by representatives from both the Obama and Clinton campaigns.

New Mexico is the last of 22 states that held Democratic primaries and caucuses Tuesday to report a winner.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[EFerrari]

40. Maybe he means some other kind of deep?

I don't get him. He seems like such a reasonable, nice guy. But, he's in this up to his elbows. :shrug: