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Monday, November 20, 2006
NM-01 Unofficial Tally: Wilson by 879 Votes
According to the Albuquerque Tribune, the canvassing in NM-01's congressional race between Dem challenger Patricia Madrid and Repub incumbent Heather Wilson is due to be officially finalized sometime today. The last unofficial tally showed a win for Wilson by a mere 879 votes among the 210,953 cast, or less than half a percentage point. Wilson got a total of 105,916 votes to Madrid's 105,037. This race was so close that a switch from Wilson to Madrid of only 440 voters who cast their ballots would have made Madrid the victor. That's approximately one vote per precinct.
Check out what Jerry Ortiz y Pino has to say about some of the possible reasons for the Madrid loss. He speaks for me, at least on one aspect of the campaign -- getting Dem absentee ballots returned to the County Clerk. Rocket science, no. Simple common sense, yes. It's hard to believe that campaign organizers couldn't get at least some of the more than 7000 Dems who had absentees sent to them and failed to return them to do so before the deadline. As Ortiz y Pino says, it wouldn't have cost a dime.
Meanwhile, the Madrid campaign hasn't yet conceded and there's still some talk of requesting a recount, depending on what DPNM Chair John Wertheim and Madrid decide. A complete recount would cost approximately $30,000 according to the Bernalillo County Clerk. Unlike many other states, where automatic recounts are conducted and paid for by the state if vote differences are under a certain margin, those requesting a recount in NM-01 would have to bear the cost. If the recount resulted in a change in the winner or election fraud was discovered, that money would be refunded.
November 20, 2006 at 11:25 AM in Candidates & Races | Permalink
Comments
I just got off the phone with Mike Burgess from KOB TV. Since KOAT demanded the removal of the Jay Hone story from Youtube, I was wondering if Wilson broke any copyright laws by that stupid attack ad, "...Your President has called for a...a tax rebate". Both candidated have the right to use footage of the debate. If I was in the Madrid Campaign I would have done an ad showing the audience laughing at Wilson when she brought up Usama Bin Laden or a clip of Madrid stating that Bush has borrowed more money then all other Presidents combined. I would have attacked signing statements and AIPAC's influence on Congress, but oh well, 2 more years!
Posted by: | Nov 20, 2006 12:15:56 PM
Ortiz y Pino has it right. Enough with overspending on ads, we need to do the follow up work on absentees and more face to face persuasion on the part of the candidate. Madrid was nowhere to be seen in the Heights. The campaign seemed very slow in responding to Wilson's attacks and they never seemed to get any video out that showed Wilson's mistakes and lies.
Posted by: Roadrunner | Nov 20, 2006 1:27:39 PM
Plenty of "if she", would have, could have, and should have comments can be made about the Madrid campaign. However, I think it more important to ask why Democrats are voting for Wilson? Her voting record doesn't show much affinity or concern for the working middle class. Her lack of interest in standing up for the Constitution, basic human rights, or questioning the Bu$h Admin policies makes me wonder who Wilson really represents. Are Dem voters that unaware, or is it simple indifference to how little representation Ms Wilson provides her Democratic constituents? Whatever the case, I have a real problem wrapping my mind around Democrats voting for Ms Wilson.
Posted by: VP | Nov 20, 2006 3:24:22 PM
... and of course this is also what you get when you have 20-30 years of voter suppression and gerrymandering.
The day after the election I talked to two people who didn't vote (one of them I registered.) They both said they were too busy. I wish they'd turn some useless holiday like Columbus day into the national election day.It might up the odds that people like those two would vote.
Posted by: suz | Nov 20, 2006 3:28:02 PM
I still would like to see an investigation into the extra votes being recorded on the tally sheets in the absentee voting, the only area where Wilson won. Before we blame Madrid for mistakes I believe that we should be sure that the votes were counted right. The tabulator that counted a great majority of the absentee ballots is merely an electronic voting machine until the output is compared to an audit from the same pool of voters. That process is the law starting 2007. A recount by the audit provisions would solve the question that I am stuck with. I saw serious counting irregularities. Which candidate benefited? By how much? Does that change the output of the election?
Terry Riley
Posted by: Terry Riley | Nov 20, 2006 5:21:21 PM
I very much agree with you, Terry. My biggest concern is that the election results are fair and accurate.
Posted by: | Nov 20, 2006 8:42:58 PM
I'm committing the sin of PWS (Posting While Sick), but I can't resist a chuckle or two about the $30,000 a recount would cost ("in Bernalillo County alone", according to Mary Herrera) compared with the $2.4 million or so the Madrid campaign spent on the race. Jeez...that $2.4 mil was worth it, but another $30 Gs...that's just wild, crazy spending talk.
As for elections, I think just about everybody can agree they are conducted in a half-ass way, using a quaint mixture of improperly tested technology and mom-and-pop accounting procedures. Walking into a school-based voting precinct on election day one wouldn't be surprised to see a FFA-sponsored cakewalk going on next to a stall pen housing a 4-H prize pig.
That the "system" has holes goes without saying. In reality, it goes without saying that it isn't really much of a "system" at all. But it is quaint, and when it is finally changed I guess I'll miss it in the same way I miss the witch ducking stool and other easily apparent unreliable ways to decide things.
Posted by: | Nov 21, 2006 6:48:32 AM
Wilson gets many "Dem" votes from those who work or have workers in their families at Sandia Labs and Kirtland AFB or their connected businesses. They seem to believe Wilson can stick close to Uncle Petie and get more dollars for them in pork, even though we all know all NM officeholders work to increase funding for the war machine so we can keep the jobs. Think of all the "liberals" who vote this way and think they are for peace and sensible defense when they are really voting for the worst of the worst.
Plus Wilson got most of the votes that made a difference from the Edgewood area, which has grown dramatically over the past 10 years or so with many people moving there from red states like Arkansas, OK and TX.
Posted by: I Vote | Nov 21, 2006 9:06:37 AM
