Denish to Promote Automatic Recount Measure

More good news. This week Lt. Governor Diane Denish announced she will promote passage of a bill called the Every Vote Counts Act, set to be introduced at the 2007 NM legislative session. NM Democratic Senators Dede Feldman and Gerald Ortiz y Pino joined Denish in touting the bill's merits. According to an article in theAlbuquerque Tribune:

The Every Vote Counts Act would set aside $500,000 in state money and require recounts when the difference in the votes is less than one-half of 1 percent in federal or statewide races.

"I want to ensure that the vote of every New Mexican is counted properly and fairly to provide voters equity and foster confidence in the Democratic process," Denish said in a statement.

Many states have laws requiring an automatic recount if the margin between candidates is under a specified percentage of the total vote. If we had such a law on the books here, a mandatory recount would be going on right now in the NM-01 congressional race between Patricia Madrid and Heather Wilson. Wilson's margin of victory was only 875 votes, or less than half a percentage point. Rather than the Madrid camp facing the rather daunting task of raising what they determined would be around $300,000 if they wanted a complete recount, the state would pay the costs on behalf of the entire state's electorate to make sure election results are accurate in close races.

A fund to pay for the mandatory recounts would be created by instituting a candidate registration fee based on the number of registered voters in the candidate's district.

"Ensuring that every vote is counted and counted properly is essential to our system," Ortiz y Pino said. "Mandatory recounts in some cases are necessary to preserve the confidence of the people."