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Saturday, January 14, 2006
A Message from Paul Stokes
A message from Paul Stokes who is active with Voter Action, Verified Voting NM and United Voters NM:
Dear concerned citizens,
The voters of New Mexico had their most urgent wish granted yesterday when Governor Richardson announced his initiative to to establish a uniform system of paper ballots and optical scan vote counters in the state. The message is resonating across the state, and is spreading across the country.
The Governor made it clear: it was the concerned citizens of New Mexico that catalyzed this initiative. When our elected officials saw the public interest being expressed in the galleries of the legislature and the editorial pages of the newspapers, they knew that the citizenry was concerned and engaged. And they have responded, beginning last spring in the legislature, and now with this initiative.
New Mexico voters want a voting system that is transparent and that can be trusted to count their votes accurately. Paper ballots provide that capability. With paper ballots, voters have a simple and intuitive way to verify that their votes are properly recorded. And the paper ballots will be preserved and used to check on the machine counts of the votes -- or, as necessary, to conduct recounts of close races.
So, a big thank you to everyone who helped make this happen.
Paul
Editor's Note: Paul Stokes has been an incredibly informed and eloquent spokesperson for election reform in NM. He was an enduring presence at almost every single election reform hearing and meeting. A big thank you to him, too!
January 14, 2006 at 09:45 AM in Local Politics | Permalink
Comments
I want to add my thanks to all those who are working so hard on election reform and to the guv and other officials who are supporting the paper ballot machines. This is a real victory for democracy in NM.
Posted by: I Vote | Jan 15, 2006 10:15:16 AM
To whom it may concern:
I recently became aware of a Rio Rancho city council meeting for the blighting and eminent domain takeover of a portion of unit 10 Rio Rancho. The city plans to take land from existing landowners and sell it to Pulte homes to redevelop the land using blight and eminent domain to legalize the action. With the utmost respect, I would like you to know that I am adamantly opposed to such law. I understand your ability to address such matters. Senator Carrero plans to introduce legislation at the upcoming January legislature that will oppose such blight and eminent domain law interpretation, to transfer land from a private landowner for redevelopment. I hope that all landowners in New Mexico can count on your support of the introduction of said legislation to discontinue such abuse of blight and eminent domain law. I sincerely believe, that as an individual , without proper legislation, such a precedent will ultimately result in reduced property values as well as reduced investment in New Mexico from any and all private property investors in New Mexico. This action will benefit Pulte corp. now , but how will individual investors react to the idea that any government body in New Mexico can blight land, as well as any private property, and use it for any desired interest of another private land owner. I want to see Rio Rancho as well as every part of New Mexico prosper economically, as do many other individuals. There are alternatives, such as creating special assessment districts that install the infrastructure and assess individual property owners for the improvements ; ie storm sewer ,roads ,utilities ,etc. This will not only begin the development process that I think everyone desires, but it will also foster positive and increased investment in the great state of New Mexico. Instead of forcefully taking land from private landowners , this will level the playing field and give everyone the opportunity to develop their land per their individual dreams. Our great country was founded on dreams: dreams of being an American ; dreams of becoming a land owner; dreams of becoming a great businessman ; dreams of being exempt from injustices prevalent in other parts of the world ; dreams that forbid unreasonable search and seizure of land and private property. I respectfully ask for your help, and consideration in the above matter, and I am looking forward to seeing our great state implement redevelopment reform.
Sincerely, Martin Fliss po box 93724 Albuquerque NM 87199
ph 505-261-7838 email freakoutski@hotmail.com
Posted by: martin fliss | Jan 16, 2006 11:54:42 AM
ATTENTION NEW MEXICO PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNERS
Your rights to own private property are in jeprody. According to a recent interpretation of eminant domain law, any government agency can take away your private property, under the guise of eminant domain and blight, and use it for redevelopment. This means that any homeowner, any land owner , any private property owner, can potentially have his or her home or land or private property taken away and sold to a private business to rebuild as they see fit. The city of Rio Rancho is using this law to blight several thousand lots, take it over, and sell it to large homebuilding corperations ,who in turn, profit from the transaction. I urge you to write or call your state representative now and push for a bill to eliminate the abuse of eminant domain law in the state of New Mexico during the January 2006 legislature. For assistance with NM state government telephone numbers call 1-800-825-6639.
Posted by: martin fliss | Jan 16, 2006 11:55:56 AM
