The Disappearing Recount in NM-01 and What We Can Do About It

Despite statements all over the media by DPNM Chair John Wertheim that the Party planned to pursue a 2% audit recount of the Patricia Madrid - Heather Wilson congressional race, yesterday's deadline came and went with nothing filed. Another lost opportunity to gauge the accuracy of our new paper ballot - optical scanner system.

Legal Fog
I understand that the State Party got bogged down in trying to decipher the meaning of New Mexico's election law pertaining to recounts, who can legally request them and what limitations apply to the process. There was reportedly much concern that their request -- even if they got a power of attorney declaration from Madrid -- wouldn't be allowed because Madrid had officially conceded. It appears that only candidates themselves can formally request recounts, and only if they believe an error in the tally would be large enough to change who won. Regardless, I'm not sure how supportive the Madrid camp was about seeking any kind of recount, which is a shame considering how many people worked their butts off and dug deep into their pockets to try and get her elected. In a race this close, I think she owed us one.

Madrid Following the Kerry Strategy?
Even if Madrid thought a complete recount would be quixotic, I think the least she could have done was request a limited recount before conceding to see how our new voting system performed. This would no doubt have garnered much positive press and good will for her here and nationally. Instead she apparently bought into the handler notion that requesting a recount in a race decided by 862 voters would somehow tarnish her chances to run again in the future. Remember Kerry and his cave-in on similar grounds in the 2004 prez election? It's hard to calculate just how much negative reaction that decision provoked against Kerry with Dem voters. Sadly, Madrid seems to be following in his misbegotten footsteps.

Money, Money, Money
It's instructive to ponder how tens of thousands of dollars were raised by the netroots in record time to support Dem candidate Christine Jennings' efforts to get all the votes counted in Florida's CD-13. In that race, more than 18,000 votes were "lost" by the electronic machines in a contest decided by only 369 votes. Surely the Madrid campaign could have raised whatever funds were necessary to pay for a full recount in a race decided by less than half a percentage point, let alone a much cheaper limited recount to audit how accurately our scanners counted the votes from the paper ballots. With so much passionate activism going on in the area of election reform, adequate funds could have been raised in no time by the Madrid camp via small donations. But then, we'll never really know, will we?

Mary Herrera Our Last Chance?
The only remaining opportunity for checking the system apparently would be in the form of an unofficial, "educational" audit of 2% of the NM-01 precincts, to which current Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera reportedly agreed prior to the election. I haven't heard a peep from Herrera on this score since the election was certified, have you? I suggest we might encourage action on this front by emailing or calling Herrera and urging her to follow through on her promise. Be polite, but assertive. The DPNM is reportedly looking into how they might support such an effort, and perhaps even contribute funding for it. I hope this is the case and we can at least get a snapshot of how well the new voting system operated.

Denish Proposal for Automatic Recount
The good news is that Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, along with NM State Senators Dede Feldman and Gerald Ortiz y Pino, announced support for passage of legislation this coming January to require a recount whenever the margin in an election falls below .5%, as it did in the Madrid-Wilson race. The proposal would also create a funding mechanism for paying for these mandatory recounts, perhaps by instituting a registration fee for all candidates to be held in a recount pool.

Given the DPNM's discovery of just how vague our law is in terms of recounts, I hope the scope of this recount bill will be widened to include a clean-up of all the legal language currently in force regarding recounts. The election reform community will also be pushing for legislation that would require same day voter registration, tighten the automatic audit provisions that will kick in for the 2007 election cycle and other fine tuning of our election laws. I think it's imperative that we gear up now to actively support these improvements when the 60-day legislative session kicks off on January 16th.

In Search of Certified Results
This might also be a good time to ask why the certified precinct by precinct results of the November election are not yet up on the Secretary of State's website. Once the numbers are certified, I don't understand why there would be any delay in transferring the numbers to the SOS website and letting the public in on the detailed reporting.