Democracy for New Mexico

Fraud, Theft and Judicial Contempt

Common Dreams has an article published in the Columbus Free Press on Friday entitled, "Ohio's Official Non-Recount Ends Amidst New Evidence of Fraud, Theft and Judicial Contempt Mirrored in New Mexico." The article goes into detail about the horrors of the Ohio election and the recount, as well as Gov. Richardson's attempt to squash a recount here in New Mexico. This article is really a must-read in terms of understanding what happened in Ohio and New Mexico, and you're encouraged to click through to the entire text at the link above. Some excerpts:

COLUMBUS -- The Ohio presidential recount was officially terminated Tuesday, December 28.

But the end comes amidst bitter dispute over official certification of impossible voter turnout numbers, over the refusal of Ohio's Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice to recuse himself from crucial court challenges involving his own re-election campaign, over the Republican Secretary of State's refusal to testify under subpoena, over apparent tampering with tabulation machines, over more than 100,000 provisional and machine-rejected ballots left uncounted, over major discrepancies in certified vote counts and turnout ratios, and over a wide range of unresolved disputes that continue to leave the true outcome of Ohio's presidential vote in serious doubt.

Officially, Republican Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell has confirmed substantial errors in the vote count, with a shift of some 1,200 votes based on statewide recounts of about 3% of the vote. But additional new evidence of massive vote-counting fraud across the state continues to be unearthed, calling into question George W. Bush’s alleged victory in Ohio and pending re-election in the Electoral College.
[. . .]
Meanwhile, a new precinct-by-precinct analysis in many Ohio counties indicates that Bush's margin here was likely obtained by fraud. That is the main claim of the election challenge suit now at the Ohio Supreme Court, where Ohio's GOP Supreme Court Chief Justice, Thomas Moyer, has refused to recuse himself, even though allegations of vote switching – where votes cast for one candidate are assigned to another in the computerized tabulation stage – involve his own re-election campaign.
[. . .]
Parallel problems have now surfaced in New Mexico, where a bitter recount battle is also being waged. At a public hearing in Columbus convened by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), senior Democrat on the US House Judiciary Committee, Rev. Jesse Jackson testified that Sen. Kerry was informed in a phone conversation that optical scan machines were being used in New Mexico to steal votes. New Mexico allegedly went to Bush by some 7,000 votes in an election with widespread charges of manipulation and fraud, especially in heavily Hispanic precincts. According to Jackson, Kerry said he know that every single New Mexico precinct fitted with optical scan machines went for Bush, demographically a virtual impossibility.

But New Mexico's Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson has refused to cooperate with Green Party and Audit the Vote activists demanding a recount, acceding to decisions that could raise the price for a recount to well over a million dollars. Despite its huge leftover war chest, the Democratic Party has not come forward to help push New Mexico's recount, which many believe could give the state to Kerry. As of now, no recount has even begun, with the issue still mired in the courts over the question of finances.

On Monday, January 3, Rev. Jackson will lead a rally in Columbus demanding, among other things, an Ohio revote.
[. . .]
The alleged Bush victory could be challenged in the much-anticipated January 6 reporting of the Electoral College to Congress. But given the mounting indications of manipulation, fraud and theft, it is virtually certain the debate over who really won Ohio -– as well as New Mexico and Florida -- and the presidency will be bitterly disputed for many years to come.

Important NM Recount Press Conference in Santa Fe on Tuesday

On Tuesday, January 4, NOON at the Capitol Rotunda in Santa Fe, Help America Recount will be holding a press conference regarding the Audit of the Canvass commissioned by the Secretary of State. Despite the Secretary of State stating that the audit showed the election went well, facts to the contrary confirm our conclusions.

Support NM Recount Press Conference & Rally on Wednesday in ABQ

From Casey Reed:
On Wednesday, January 5, at NOON at the Press Club in Albuquerque:

Help America Recount will be providing the evidence of highly suspect machine incidents at the press conference / rally (bring your signs)

The address is 201 Highland Park Dr. SE.  Members of the public are welcome.  Take 1-25 south to the Dr. Martin Luther King exit, turn right at the light.  You'll be heading toward Memorial hospital.  Turn South on Elm.  Elm turns into Highland Park   circle.  It's a Log Cabin. Click here for map.

REMINDER: CRITICAL ACTION STEP FOR NEXT WEEK !!!!

Call Senator Bingaman TODAY to urge him to support Congressman John Conyers' challenge to the January 6th electoral vote count. See our previous post about this by clicking here.

Also, continue calls to the Governor's office (505) 476-2200 *** Give us the 10% option ... recount 10% of the vote / we pay cash !

And continue calls to the Secretary of State's office (Rebecca Vigil-Jiron) ... (505) 827-3600

NOTE:  CALLS FROM OUT OF STATE ARE WELCOME !!!

Please email recount@newmexico.com with suggestions of how to make our efforts successful !!!

Mitch Buszek
NM State Coordinator
Help America Recount
(505) 204--0833

ACTION ALERT: Call Senators TODAY to Challenge 1/6 Ohio Electoral Vote Count

Congressman John Conyers will be seeking senatorial support to challenge the January 6th electoral vote count. Our very own Senator Bingaman is on that list of Senators that Conyers hopes to convince. This is important -- please click on link and sign. Our Senators and the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary: www.ContestTheVote.org.

When Congress reconvenes in January, at least 14 members of the House of Representatives will challenge the validity of the 2004 election. They will request an immediate investigation into many problems and irregularities encountered in the election.

According to the Electoral Count Act of 1887, one Senator and one House Representative are required to contest an election prior to inauguration. We have the representatives; we still need a senator. Please let your senators know that you want them to stand up with House Representatives and contest the vote.

The signed petitions will be delivered to each senator in person by a coalition of representatives from a variety of concerned organizations and individuals. We will also deliver copies of signed petitions from all states to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary to encourage them to hold formal hearings on the 2004 election.

To insure a debate in Washington, D.C. re: the legitimacy of Ohio's count, we need Senator Bingaman to challenge the Electoral College Delegation.  Contact the Senator Bingaman's office ASAP and ask him to support the Conyers effort. Ask Sen. Bingaman to speak up on January 6th and "to object to the counting of the Ohio votes, due to numerous unexplained irregularities in the Ohio presidential vote, many of which appear to violate both federal and state law."

        Senator Jeff Bingaman
        FAX  (202) 224-2852
        PHONE  (202) 224-5521
        Capitol Switchboard 1-800-839-5276
        www.senate.gov/~bingaman (for email using his form)
        senator_bingaman@bingaman.senate.gov (for email without his form)

        Faxing him would be best at this point.

        This is also the time to call Bingaman's field rep in your area.

        You can find the numbers for the Senator's field offices here.

(Thanks to Andrea Sterling for the heads up.)

Two Good Links on Vote Problem News and Actions

VotersUnite.org  has up-to-the-minute news from many sources on voting and election problems and actions. This organization has produced a Summary Report on NM Election Data.

No Stolen Democracy is a clearing house for information on getting Senators to refuse to certify the electoral vote and also has information on related protests and other actions.

NM Phantom Vote Problems Make Buzzflash

A reader contribution on Buzzflash describes the problems in NM with "phantom votes." Read it here.

NM Recount Goes Back to Court

From the Common Dreams News Wire:

NEW MEXICO -- December 28 -- Attorneys for Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb will file a Notice of Appeal on Tuesday from a District Court decision which rejected Cobb's request to start the New Mexico recount without paying the entire cost of it in advance. Last week the New Mexico Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Since the Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the case, it can be heard by the New Mexico Court of Appeals.
[. . .]
"We believe the law is on our side and look forward to a full recount of the presidential vote. There are still many unanswered questions about provisional ballots, missing votes and the integrity of voting machines which don't produce a paper trail. The people of New Mexico deserve to know that their votes will be counted fairly and accurately," said Cobb.

On Tuesday, Cobb and Badnarik's attorneys will also be notifying the New Mexico Secretary of State, the Attorney General and the Clerks for all of New Mexico's 33 counties, that the Notice of Appeal prevents them from "opening and clearing" voting machines throughout the state.

"Although, generally, voting machines can be cleared 30 days after the official certification of the vote, New Mexico law is clear that this can't happen when a recount has been initiated. The candidates have paid the deposit for the recount and we expect it to go forward, so any adjustment to the machines would be clearly inappropriate until the recount has been concluded," said Lowell Finley, one of the attorneys representing the candidates.

For more information about the Cobb-LaMarche campaign and its recount efforts in New Mexico and Ohio, see https://www.votecobb.org.

UPDATE: NM Counties to Begin "Clearing" Voting Machines?

UPDATE: According to a post on Democratic Underground, the attorneys of record (Lowell Finley, John Boyd, David Garcia) filed an appeal to the original suit in District Court (different from the Supreme Court case and still open for appeal) and sent letters to the SoS and each of the 33 county election directors to make sure the machines could not be purged. As long as there's an active recount request, it's illegal to erase the previous election without a court order.

In addition, an ABC News affliate is reporting :

Green and Libertarian presidential candidates are still pursuing their legal fight for a ballot recount in New Mexico and plan to take their case to the state Court of Appeals. Lawyers for Green Party candidate David Cobb and Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik say they intend to file a notice of appeal with the court.

Also, the Bernalillo County Clerk has now stated that the voting machines won't be cleared until the Supreme Court rules on the recount. Apparently it's all in the lawyers' hands now, so it's been requested that we stop calling county clerks and the secretary of state's office at this time. As it stands, the machines are being protected until the courts respond to the recount suits.

Recap on NM Recount Saga

A diary at Daily Kos provides a top-notch recap of what has gone on in the continuing saga of the Green and Libertarian Party efforts to obtain a legally required recount of the presidential vote in New Mexico. The diary is written by Claude Hayward of Anton Chico, whom I was pleased to break bread (well, actually pizza) with at Il Vicinco recently at a gathering of New Mexico's Kossians.

The lastest twists in this story of Gov. Richardson's refusal to follow the law, in collusion with Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Griron and other high-ranking Democrats, is revealed in a 12/24 Albuquerque Journal story detailing a high percentage of so-called overvotes and "phantom" votes in New Mexico.

Green Party candidate David Cobb said he may take this case to the U.S. Supreme Court and Cobb's lawyer said they may still post the $1.4 million "deposit" required by the NM Canvassing Board for the recount. A lawyer for the state, however, says the deadline for that is long past and the state will not reconsider.

Cobb's attorney, Lowell Finley, says in the article, "As far as we're concerned, this is not over. And we are going to continue pursuing every reasonable, available option to see that there's a meaningful audit of this election."

Read all the details in Claude's diary.

Video on Ohio Voter Suppression

From the The Progressive Mind, mirroring the Free Speech Zone:

This video footage is a must see for everyone who feels a concern regarding the gross injustices that took place in African American precincts in Ohio on election day. We have done the civil rights movement in this country already. Heck we have had to do it a few times. Yet, if you feel that everyone is indeed equal, then you are not paying attention. Through deceitful manipulation of information and equiptment, the citizens of Ohio were often turned away from voting booths. This footage, which is in 2 parts, is a documentaion of what took place on Nov 2nd. It is only a small part of the larger story.

A press release was sent out today to the press and public this morning.

The video footage provides a first hand glimpse of what transpired in Franklin County on Election Day, only in heavily leaning Democratic precincts, including unexplained voting machine shortages, organized campaigns directing voters to the wrong polling places, malfunctioning voter tabulation equipment, election worker confusion and incompetence, and a host of other problems. However, as detailed in an official affidavit by Richard Hayes Phillips, a geomorphology Ph.D. from University of Oregon, the extent of voter disenfranchisement was systematic and widespread in African American precincts throughout the state. Dr. Phillips sworn testimony read:

"For the second Presidential election in a row African American voters have been subjugated to second class citizens through systematic efforts by Republicans to suppress, intimidate, and disenfranchise our vote," said Rev. Bill Moss, the original Plaintiff in Ohio, and founder of the Center for Freedom and Justice. "Whether its Katherine Harris or Kenneth Blackwell, the purpose is the same: do everything in their power to ensure George W. Bush becomes President. If those in power are willing and able to thwart democracy and abuse the civil rights of American voters, right in the face of the press and public, what won’t they do? I am contesting this election because tyranny, particularly in the guise of democracy, is our civic duty to fight."

Read the rest. Here is how you can help:

• Watch the video and e-mail everyone you know

• E-mail or call the main stream news media outlets and demand that they cover this story. (Contact information below)

Once you have seen this please let the world know!

Click here for contact information for Government employees
Click here for media contact information.

Thank you!

Ohio Voter Suppression Videos: Click here.