Former state AG says caucus results can’t be trusted

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(This article has been updated to correct apparently inaccurate information. Please see the note at the end of the article for an explanation.) The Democratic Party of New Mexico wants to assure the state that the results from Tuesday’s caucus will be trustworthy, but some believe the process is fatally tainted. Among those critics is former Attorney General Patricia Madrid, who said problems with the caucus have resulted in “a tremendous black eye for Democrats in this state.” “We have conducted an election that doesn’t have the integrity and the confidence of the voters,” said Madrid, who supported Barack Obama but was speaking for herself, not his campaign. “I’m particularly livid about this as an Obama supporter. Can we trust this vote? Continue Reading

Alternate path to the ballot appears likely this year

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The House and Senate have approved by overwhelming majorities a proposal to provide an alternate path to the ballot for Republican and Democratic hopefuls who fail to secure the votes of 20 percent of delegates at their party’s preprimary nominating convention. Though they approved different bills, the bills are the same, so it’s likely one will easily make it through the other chamber. The governor has said he supports providing an alternate path to the ballot. Under the previous law, Democrats and Republicans could get on the ballot by receiving the votes of 20 percent of delegates at their party’s preprimary nominating convention or, if they failed to do that, by submitting petitions containing enough signatures to qualify. A 2007 change, approved unanimously by lawmakers and signed by the governor, got rid of the second provision, and was designed to increase the power of those who control the major parties. Continue Reading

Kissling says he never agreed to endorse Clinton

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Al Kissling, a Democratic candidate for the Second Congressional District seat being vacated by Steve Pearce, says he never agreed to endorse Hillary Clinton for president. The campaign included him in two news releases announcing endorsements from around the state in the days leading up to Tuesday’s caucus. “I never endorsed the Hillary campaign. I went to both events. I thought they were both very interesting and well-done,” Kissling said. Continue Reading

Colón apologizes, explains Rio Arriba situation

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Brian Colón, chair of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, is apologizing for problems with Tuesday’s presidential caucus, and also explained why the reporting of some votes, including those from three polling places in Rio Arriba County, has been delayed. Pointing out that turnout on Tuesday was much greater than the 105,000 who showed up in 2004, Colón said the story could have been about how the two Democratic presidential candidates inspired New Mexico Democrats to vote. “What we can write about is how two candidates came and lit the state on fire in less than 10 days, and that’s amazing,” he said. “I regret that I allowed this other situation and the party’s organization to become the story instead of that.” The party wasn’t adequately prepared for the approximately 150,000 people who voted on Tuesday. It ran out of ballots at some locations, had only one polling place and a long line in Rio Rancho and had trouble reporting accurate and current results on its Web site on Tuesday evening and today. Continue Reading

Uncounted Rio Arriba County ballots raise eyebrows

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(This article has been updated to include Richard Martinez’s comments to Nash and the new vote margin separating Clinton and Obama.) 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. Continue Reading

New Mexico comes down to provisional ballots

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New Mexicans hoping to wake up this morning and find out whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama won New Mexico will be disappointed to learn that the contest will remain unresolved until thousands of provisional ballots are dealt with later today. That’s the latest news on an election day (that has carried over into the next day) that was blessed with record turnout and plagued by problems. The state Democratic Party’s Web site, which was supposed to be the official bearer of election results, hasn’t been updated since 11:56 p.m. on Tuesday and doesn’t include results from several counties, including the state’s two largest, Bernalillo and Doña Ana. It’s a good thing that Albuquerque television stations have more updated numbers. As it stands, Clinton has a 117-vote advantage out of 131,573 ballots cast. She has 65,845 votes to Obama’s 65,728 with 98 percent of precincts reporting. Continue Reading

Only 228 votes separate Obama and Clinton

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The newest update from KOAT-TV in Albuquerque has Barack Obama narrowly beating Hillary Clinton, 63,030 votes to 62,802 votes, with 95 percent of precincts reporting. That’s a difference of 228 votes out of 125,832 cast. I can’t tell you which counties are yet to be counted. The TV station is way ahead of the state Democratic Party’s Web site on the vote count, but the station doesn’t break it down by county. If the margin stays that tight, this race won’t be decided until after the state party deals with the provisional ballots. Continue Reading

Obama wins big in Santa Fe

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Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton by about 4,000 votes in Santa Fe County, keeping this race in the too-close-to-call column. Obama had 12,696 votes in Santa Fe County. Clinton had 8,651 votes. I’ve given up trying to tally the vote totals. The state Democratic Party’s Web site is a mess. Continue Reading

Clinton’s lead grows in New Mexico

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With Chaves and De Baca counties’ votes being counted, Hillary Clinton’s lead in New Mexico is growing. Clinton now has 5,668 votes, or 53 percent, to Barack Obama’s 5,090 votes, or 47 percent. The results from eight counties and absentee ballots have been counted. But Las Cruces, Albuquerque and Santa Fe haven’t been counted. Look for Obama to gain some ground when totals from those areas are included. Continue Reading

Where are the New Mexico results?

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OK, a winner has already been declared in California and we hardly have any results from New Mexico. First the state’s Democratic Party vastly underestimated voter turnout. Then someone decided one polling place in the state’s third-largest city, Rio Rancho, was a good idea. That led to a ridiculously long line. Now, more than 3.5 hours after polls have closed in New Mexico, we’re still awaiting most of the results. Continue Reading

Obama has an early lead in New Mexico

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With four of the state’s 33 counties reporting, Barack Obama is leading Hillary Clinton 52-48 percent in New Mexico. Results from Curry, Hidalgo, Los Alamos and Mora counties have Obama with 2,042 votes and Clinton with 1,905 votes. That includes a large margin of victory – more than 400 votes out of about 2,000 cast – for Obama in Los Alamos County. There are a combined 559 provisional ballots yet to be counted from those counties, including 391 from the storm-battered Mora County. I’m reporting results as quickly as I can, but I’m having to add up the county results to get a statewide tally because the party isn’t doing it on its Web site. Continue Reading

Hidalgo County goes to Clinton

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The first county to report results, tiny Hidalgo County in the southwest corner of New Mexico, has gone to Hillary Clinton. According to the party’s official results, 57 percent picked Clinton, while 34 percent picked Barack Obama. The rest of the vote was split between other candidates who have dropped out of the race, including Bill Richardson, who received 2 percent. The party’s Web site doesn’t say how many ballots were cast in the county, but does say that eight provisional ballots will be considered on Wednesday. Continue Reading

At least 170,000 ballots distributed today

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The executive director of the state’s Democratic Party says that, on top of the 150,000 ballots that were distributed to polling places in advance of today’s caucus, the party printed at least another 20,000 today for places that ran out. That doesn’t mean 170,000 or more Democrats voted, she said. Some counties didn’t use all their ballots. But others did, and then some. Turnout in 2004 was about 105,000, and there’s a good chance today will break that turnout record. Continue Reading