Posted on 11/09/2006 8:54:17 PM PST by CedarDave
In Bernalillo County, it seems the dreary part of democracy always ends up in a drab warehouse, with weary election workers hand-tallying ballots among fast-food cups, political observers and attorneys.
This year is no different.
About 100 election workers continued to tally 4,580 ballots by hand Wednesday at the warehouse, near Interstate 25 and Montaño NW.
And after that is finished, they still have another 3,800 provisional and "in-lieu-of" absentee ballots to examine. They will start counting those today, and County Clerk Mary Herrerra estimated it would take two days.
They are counted as part of the canvassing process, which is expected to move into full swing this morning after the hand-tallied votes are counted, Herrera said. The canvass, which is similar to an audit of the vote and is required before the results are certified, is expected to take about 10 days.
Herrera had a one word-answer when asked how it was going: "Slow. Slow, slow, slow."
The hand tally involves ballots that are rejected by tabulation machines, which won't read ballots marked in red ink or that have some other problem, such as eraser marks.
At the center of the hand tally this year is the race in the 1st Congressional District, where Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., was locked in a close battle for re-election against Democratic challenger Patricia Madrid.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
This is New Mexico. Our goal is to make Louisiana look good.
As of the time of this post, Wilson leads Madrid by 1,334 votes with thousands left yet to tabulate. It likely will be early next week before the outcome is know, though I understand they will work through the Veterans holiday weekend.
See this thread for current discussion:
PING!
Wilson just made an announcement declaring victory. She said the votes in Bernalillo County have all been counted and she is ahead over 1600 votes. The 1600+ margin could not be overcome. The provisional ballots have not been counted but all of those may not be allowed. Currently 4300 provisional ballots are left to be counted. That means Madrid would need 64%+ to overcome the difference.
Heather Wilson (R) just claimed victory over Patricia Madrid just minutes ago on local TV.
Good for her.
From what I understand, there are only about 3400 votes uncounted, so Madrid would have to take them by better then 2-1, even assuming all of them are valid. That's not technically impossible, but it's highly, highly, highly unlikely.
In New Mexico anything is possible. However, I agree with Heather that she won the race. Let's just hope that only the legal ballots will be counted.
I just watched Heather on the local news...she claimed victory!!
Dejavu all over again. What would be the odds on a repub winning a hand count review of ballots in a New Mexico warehouse? We will see mysterious boxes of votes showing up in that facility real soon.
Is this the country in NM where the GOP districts received hundreds fewer ballots then they should have received?
Yes, 150 ballots in each of two heavily Republican precincts with over 2,000 voters. But it was early in the morning when it happened. Ballots ran out about 8:30 and were replenished about 10:30. Voters that left were told to come back, but it is unlikely that all did.
And Heather has now declared victory. A Republican win in a district with 45% to 35% Dem. to Repub. registration is a great victory in this election.
I think so.
The media will NOT let ballots be counted. Absentee ballots are to be thrown out, just another "wasted" vote.
If the tally isn't there on election day and it won't help the Dems, get rid of it.
So much for caring about the disenfranchised.
Provisional ballots are usually cast by dumb Dems who can't remember whether or where they registered or have some other excuse for not voting at their own precinct. So its good for them to be critically examined. If the past is any indication, about 50% or more are disqualified, which would make Madrid's climb even higher. It's over, stick a fork in it!
yes
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