NM Recount Case Makes News

Washington Post excerpt:

SANTA FE, N.M. -- The state's highest court was asked Monday to order a recount in the razor-close 2004 presidential election in New Mexico even though it's too late for a new vote tabulation to change the outcome.

A lawyer for Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik made the request to the New Mexico Supreme Court during a hearing on a challenge to the state's handling of the candidates' request for a recount.

Cobb and Badnarik contend they were wrongly required to pay $1.4 million as a security deposit for a recount, which never happened because of the legal dispute over the cost.

John Boyd, a lawyer for Cobb and Badnarik, said a recount of paper ballots and a recheck of voting machine results was still needed to highlight problems with New Mexico's election system.

"There is no more important issue than the purity of elections in this state," Boyd told justices during an hour-long hearing. "And I will tell ... the court that the elections are not pure."

Articles on this case also in appeared Salon and the Guardian UK.

You can find more information on the 2004 election problems in NM at Voter Action. This site also describes another lawsuit filed on behalf of a number of NM voters that aims to obtain a permanent injunction against use of the voting machines linked to the problems.