PRIMARY SCANDAL IN NEW MEXICO: BALLOT BOXES UNCOUNTED - SLEEP OVER AT PARTY BOSS' HOME

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

The New Mexico Democratic Primary has another problem - a Democratic official/wife of party boss keeps uncounted ballot boxes overnight. There's a 217 vote margin between Barack Obama and Hillary Clintonout of 136 thousand ballots cast.

From New Mexico political reporter Heath Haussaman:

Uncounted Rio Arriba County ballots raise eyebrows

The New Mexico Democratic Party caucus may be tainted by three ballot boxes that spent the night in the home of the Rio Arriba County party chair or the homes of other local election officials instead of being reported to the state party.

Those ballots still haven’t been counted, but they have been retrieved by the state party.

Several sources told me the ballot boxes spent the night at the home of Rio Arriba County Democratic Party Chair Theresa Martinez, whose state-lawmaker husband, Sen. Richard Martinez, endorsed Hillary Clinton. But Richard Martinez told Santa Fe New Mexican reporter Kate Nash that the boxes actually spent the night in the homes of three polling-place managers. He gave Nash no explanation for why the results from those ballots weren’t reported to the state party last night and why they were instead kept overnight in officials’ homes.

...The Obama and Clinton campaigns should have lawyers there trying to figure out what’s happening and ready to act if necessary. My understanding is that Obama attorneys are already on their way. The state party needs to quickly resolve this and tell the public how it’s going to allay fears that the election process is tainted beyond repair.

http://haussamen.blogspot.com/2008/02/uncounted-rio-arriba-county-ballots.html

[AtomicKitten]

1. We clearly have learned nothing since 2000.

[rox63]

2. This explains why it's taking so long to get final results from NM n/t

[BeyondGeography]

3. New Mexico is one of my favorite places in the country

but it is a fucking laughingstock when it comes to elections.

[blogslut]

4. whatheefuck?

I mean seriously, WHAT. THE. FUCK?

[EFerrari]

14. Richardson seems to be whoring for the Clintons.

It's not even algebra.

[jasmine621]

41. "whoring for Hillary" "endorsing Obama."

and beat goes on.

[TexasObserver]

5. Exactly what I've been saying for days!!

New Mexico is one of the worst states in the country when it comes to election integrity. I said they were trying to fix the outcome by stuffing boxes and making others disappear, and I won't be surprised if that is proven to be true.

Dirty tricks. Criminal acts. And who is behind it? One of the Clinton's party ward heelers.

[incapsulated]

6. Unacceptable

This needs to be investigated and I want the DNC down there, too.

[Iwasthere]

7. That does it !!!

I am now for Obama 110 %

[cali]

8. yeah, let's make light of these kinds of election shenanigans

that's real helpful as head into the general.

[woolldog]

9. I'm so disgusted

by the Clintons.

[hogwyld]

10. Are there no limits?

To what HRC will do to get the power she has craved for so long? I really hope the light of truth shines on this, and all of the dirty laundry is aired.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

36. there seems to be a pattern

attempts to disenfranchise voters in Nevada,

Clinton campaign that there were no voting problems in Los Angelos County CA
(double bubble, voter registration databases etc etc etc )

There were some rumors about Michigan too.

[EFerrari]

11. What a surprise.

I knew there was something there. Thanks.

[JackORoses]

12. Hillary really, really wants New Mexico.

[EFerrari]

13. Yes. It would add to the myth that Latinos won't vote for Barack.

This should have been the icing.

[elizm]

15. Gov. Richardson erased the memory in 2004 so that recount couldn't happen...

Can't say I trust anything coming out of New Mexico.

What are they hiding in New Mexico?
by Warren Stewart, National Ballot Integrity Project
January 18, 2005

http://freepress.org/departments/display/19/2005/1100

[EFerrari]

18. That's a great link. Thank you. n/t

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

16. 1. Anyone Thinking Hillary Had This Done Is An Ignorant Fool

2. The overwhelming likelihood is that it was completely innocent in nature and the ballots unspoiled.

3. That's not good enough, and it's a huge sign of stupidity on the part of whoever made the call for them to be taken home. They should know better.

[KittyWampus]

22. spoken like a true cult-member. Clintons are spotless politicians and would NEVER engage in hardball

sure.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

25. Actually, It Was Spoken By Someone Being Sane And Rational.

If you think for a second this was an intentional trick or act on behalf of the clinton campaign, then I fear you've let yourself get way too absorbed in this primary battle and have lost all sense of reasoning and objectivity. Seriously.

[Quixote1818]

27. I doubt the Clinton's knew about it but it sounds like it was done to help the Clinton's

I don't think the Clinton's would be that stupid though Richardson might have told them he could could make it happen with a wink. Richardson has a reputation around here (according to some) of running things like the Moffia. I doubt that though.

[Tom Rinaldo]

37. I doubt that

I think this is a royal screw up, and it seems weather played into it. That evening I doubt that anyone expected the final results to be so tight that just three ballot boxes were going to make the difference. It's not like the genuine votes inside those ballot boxes were ever going to be 100% for one or the other candidate to begin with, they obviously were split between Obama and Clinton, most likely fairly closely. And for them to come to light AFTER the vote count without them favored Clinton by a thousand or so votes anyway certainly does nothing to help her case.

[Hutzpa]

45. Question?

How many more of these occurance have gone un-noticed?

Fortunately, this was a close election, wherein those

ballot boxes matter, what if? it was not a close election?

:shrug:

[Zueda]

46. I think it was a total of 4 boxes...Half a county's worth.

[Hutzpa]

48. Now....thats quite a lot

of disenfranchise voters, and the Clinton supporters expect
us to let this go, are they kidding me?

[Hutzpa]

44. You're using semantics,

for the lame, twisting words. Not this time, no one can convince otherwise,
they are Clinton supporters....period!!

[Quixote1818]

17. Greg Palast talked about this last night on Clout with Richard Green (Air America).

I thought everyone on DU already knew about this and had moved onto different subjects. I guess I was wrong.

[K Gardner]

19. Didnt have a clue.

[Hutzpa]

47. uh-huh...like sweeping under the carpet

you Clinton supporters have got nerves.

Replacing one corrupt government for another.

:puke: :puke:

[Quixote1818]

20. Rio Arriba County is mostly Native Americans. Who was suposed to get the Native American

vote in New Mexico?

[jsamuel]

21. Clinton

[Quixote1818]

24. Are you sure? Native American Times endorses Barack Obama

http://culturekitchen.com/mole333/blog/native_american_times_endorses_barack_obama

[jsamuel]

26. I saw it reported that the ballot boxes that were held up were held up because of snow

in counties that went heavily for Clinton.

[Quixote1818]

28. Thats a good point. Chama was declared a disaster area from massive snow fall

amounts. They had to call in the National Guard to help people.

[EFerrari]

29. And we all believe that because Hillary not Obama is bringing in new voters.

:shrug:

[jasmine621]

42. That makes sense. nt

[troubleinwinter]

32. So what? Do you vote on the basis of a newspaper endorsement?

You assume all Native Americans vote for a candidate based on one newspaper endorsement? WTF?

The counties in large Navajo and Apache reservation areas in Arizona and Utah went Clinton. President Shirley of the Navajo Nation endorsed Clinton. I have no clue if Pres. Shirley's endorsement had any effect. Apparently the Native American Times didn't dictate the vote.

[Quixote1818]

35. I don't know and didn't say I knew

I was making an educated guess and was asking if my guess was right or not. I never claimed with 100% confidence one way or another. :eyes:

[troubleinwinter]

30. Nonsense. Rio Arriba Co. is about 13% NA. So what?

[Vinca]

23. That's as bad as New Hampshire turning the ballots over to

some guy named Bubba.

[EFerrari]

31. More from a poster to Mark Crispin Miller's list:

Clinton and Bill & Bill (Richardson & Clinton) watched the Super Bowl together, the Democratic Party of New Mexico was in charge of our February 5 "caucus." (It was not a true caucus; rather, it was a primary election which was run by the state Democratic Party). The Party claimed they were caught by surprise at the high voter turnout, which is why they ran out of ballots at numerous urban polling places before 5 pm, when the vast majority of voters showed up to vote. Some of my fellow New Mexicans chalked it up to typical (or sterotypical) New Mexico incompetence, but what I witnessed yesterday had nothing whatsoever to do with incompetence. It was, instead, a deliberate and calculated scheme to subvert the democratic process and award the lion's share of New Mexico's delegates to Clinton despite the will of the majority of Democratic voters of New Mexico.

Here's why I make that assertion:

1. They shortened the voting hours from Noon to 7 pm, so that the retired would have the opportunity to vote (more favoring Clinton), but people of working age would mostly need to wait until after 5 pm.

2. They consolidated long lists of precincts into 1 polling place, so that lines would be exceedingly long, and those of working age would not be able to vote over their lunch hour due to the long lines. (Most waits were well over 1 hour). In Rio Rancho, a town of 75,000 people with a 2.5% African American population (that's high for New Mexico), there was only one polling place! Hundreds of would-be voters had to wait OUTSIDE the building for hours in bitter cold weather.

3. In the southeast section of Albuquerque with the only significant African American population and a high number of younger people due to its proximity to the University, poll workers were calling Party headquarters for 2 hours and telling them they were about to run out of ballots, but no ballots were delivered. They announced at 5 pm (with hundreds of people in line to vote) that they would need to just write the name of the candidate they preferred on a piece of paper and they would not guarantee they would be counted. This went on for at least an hour and a half, with most people following that procedure.

The Party did not respond to repeated requests to deliver more ballots until an attorney who was forced to write her vote on a slip of paper called news media and someone threatened loudly to bring a class action lawsuit while a poll worker was on the phone with someone from Party headquarters. Then they finally brought a few photocopies of ballots, half an hour before the polls were scheduled to close.

I expect this kind of dirty politics from the Republican Party. Witnessing it firsthand from the Democratic Party has affected me deeply. I have voted in every election since I was 18 (and I'm now 52). I have been thrilled to see Barack's candidacy inspiring so many to get involved as not just residents, but CITIZENS of this country. But watching young, first time voters leave the voting lines without voting because of the maneuvering of conniving political operatives made me heartsick and outraged.

We must demand an end to the corruption in the echelons of both politicial parties. Why even have elections if a few elite subvert the process by disenfranchising the people and forcing their will via supreme court justice and superdelegate votes?

America cannot be a champion of democracy around the world when we don't have anything close to a democracy here.

[Quixote1818]

33. I have been holding off saying this but I went to vote twice in Taylor Ranch

at 5:00 and then just before the polls closed and the lines were so long both times I couldn't stay because I had too much to do and it was dinner time. I ended up not voting because there was no way I could wait for one or two hours. Cars had filled the Middle School parking lot and were literally lined up down the street. I was going to vote for Obama but never did because there was no way I could wait that long. And I even went twice to see if the line had gone down.

So, I am a prime example of an Obama voter who tried to vote but couldn't wait. I was feeling guilty about it but after reading this I feel kind of pissed off because it sounds like it was set up to stop people like me from voting.

[EFerrari]

34. I didn't know at first when I started tracking NM but

I'm certain of it now. Sure, it was purposeful. How the heck could it not be?

[Tom Rinaldo]

38. If it were important enough to Richardson to have Clinton win

he just would have bleeping endorsed her in the first place.

[EFerrari]

39. This could also be about a down ticket race and not about

Clinton at all. New Mexico.

[TexasObserver]

40. at the home of Sen. Richard Martinez, who endorsed Hillary Clinton.

the ballot boxes spent the night at the home of Rio Arriba County Democratic Party Chair Theresa Martinez, whose state-lawmaker husband, Sen. Richard Martinez, endorsed Hillary Clinton.

[Hutzpa]

43. This is how Cry Baby In Chief plans to

win an election, what makes her different from * hard to see the
difference.

Beyond belief, how is this possible.

un-fucking-believable!! :wow: :wow: