Democracy for New Mexico

Big Rally at SF Roundhouse Saturday for Election Reform

To generate renewed support for Voter Verifiable Paper Ballots and Automatic Audits of election results, there will be a Rally from Noon to 2:00 PM at the East entrance to the Roundhouse in Santa Fe on Saturday, March 5. The goal is to attract at least 300 people so we can keep our election reform requirements in the spotlight as bills are negotiated.

It's hoped that the Saturday date will permit those who work during the week to participate and express their views along with those who have had the time and energy to attend weekday events. The media and selected legislators and bill analysts have been invited.

There are many election reform bills percolating on both the House and Senate sides as we move into the last stages of the 60-day Legislative Session in Santa Fe. At the moment, passionate, behind the scenes negotiations are taking place, with constant give and take and day-to-day changes shaping the final bills.

As Terry Riley of NN Democratic Friends says, "We do not have a crystal ball, so we cannot know that our bill, the McSorley Bill (SB1065), is the best.  We have reviewed almost every bill out there and we believe that the McSorley Bill has the greatest chance of improving our election system the most.  We believe that the McSorley Bill will make election fraud unbelievably difficult to try much less succeed and so we want to continue supporting the McSorley Bill."

The Senate Rules Committee has bypassed McSorley's bill and is currently involved in finalizing its own version of election reform, working with Governor Richardson's office and his recommendations on this issue. While this version of the bill may provide many of the requirements we support, in its current form it's not as clear and comprehensive as the McSorley bill. United New Mexico Voters and others are working to substitute language from the McSorley bill into this one and/or to get SB1065 passed on its own.

One factor that's affecting the process is the cost of the changes in terms of voting machine purchases and other expenses. But we believe you get what you pay for. We want an election process that is trustworthy and transparent.

Please stand up with your fellow progressives on March 5th and ask the New Mexico Legislature to provide us with an election reform bill that is strong and effective. You are urged to bring signs and your friends. You can download some protest signs created by Terry Riley here and here.

Click to get some idea of how many election reform bills are floating around at the Legislature this year. Scrolls down the document to the topic "Elections."

UPDATE: No Election Reform Bills on Wednesday's SJC Calendar

There is currently no election reform bill set to be heard at the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, March 2nd. It was previously thought that the bill would pass from the Senate Rules Commitee and be heard on Wednesday, but as has been noted, things are very fluid at the Legislature at this point in the session.

Please check the calendar for the Senate Judiciary Committee regularly though, as it can change rapidly.

The progress on this issue was previously reported on this blog. When the bill is scheduled to be heard, you are urged to attend and communicate our continuing support for Voter Verifiable Paper Ballots and Automatic Audits.

Update on DPBC Meetings

Here's an update to our previous post, with additional information on these meetings of the Democratic Party of Bernalillo County:

Bernalillo County Ward/Precinct Meetings
Thursday, March 28, 2005, 6:30 - 8:30 PM
(finalized locations will be forthcoming later this week)

Bernalillo County Central Committee Meeting
Saturday, April 2, 2005 - Albuquerque Convention Center
09:00 AM: Registration
10:00 AM: County Central Committee Meeting begins

Resolutions Committee Meeting
Thursday, March 31, 2005, 7:00 PM
(location will be forthcoming later this week)

Credentials Committee Meeting
Friday, April 1, 2005, 7:00 PM
(location will be forthcoming later this week)

Information from DPBC e-news. To subscribe, send your name, county and email address to dpbc@att.net.

DPBC Ward & Precinct Election Date Set

The Democratic Party of Bernalillo County will hold its Ward and precinct elections from 6:30 to 8:30 PM on March 28, at various locations around town. Not all locations for the "cluster ward" meetings have been announced, but here's the list so far:

South Valley Cluster - Wards 10, 12A, 12B, 13A, 13B, 14A, 14B
Westside Community Center
1250 Isleta Blvd. SW

West Side Cluster – Wards 16A, 16B, 23A, 23B, 29
Taylor Ranch Community Center
4900 Kachina St. NW

North Valley Cluster – Wards 11A, 11B, 11C, 15A, 15B, 17A, 17B
Raymond Sanchez Center
9800 4th NW

Sandia Cluster: Wards 24A, 24B, 27A, 27B, 30A, 30B
IBEW Hall
4921 Alexander Blvd. NE

Highlands Cluster - Wards 18A, 18B, 19A, 19B, 25A, 25B, 26
Plumbers Hall
510 San Pedro SE

The meeting locations of two additional clusters have not yet been finalized. I'll be updating this information when we receive it.

If you are planning on running for precinct or ward chair, or if you want to vote on the candidates running for these positions in your ward, please attend these meetings. Click to find out you are in. Use your precinct number to find .

(This information was received via email from the DPBC. An Official Call concerning the ward and precinct meetings should legally set out this information but I haven't seen one yet.)

NOTE: ALSO CHECK UPDATE ABOVE.

Results of Friday Election Reform Bill Hearing

On Friday, February 25, 2005, the Senate Rules Committee passed the combination election reform bill, sponsored by Rules Committee Chair Linda Lopez and Senator Ortiz y Pino, on a straight party line without recommendation. All Democrats on the committee voted for the bill, while all Republicans voted against the bill.  Senators Lopez and Ortiz y Pino worked in conjunction with the Governor's office and the Secretary of State's office in crafting this bill, and it's been reported that the Governor supports it.

This bill presently includes requirements for what is called a "voter verified paper trail," as well some form of a recount procedure, but the language does not entirely fulfill all of our requirements.

This bill is called the Election Reform Substitute Bill (SRC/SB40) and combines/replaces Senate Bills 678, 680, 718 and 735.

This weekend the Senate Rules Committee will work on the combined bill, with the Governor's and Secretary of State's offices, to create amendments. There is a push to have these amendments include language that better matches our desires for a "voter verifiable paper ballot," as well as a more clearly defined automatic audit requirement.

This combined bill will next go to the Senate Judiciary Committee early next week. We have heard it will be considered on Wednesday, March 2, but this can change. It is believed the bill has a very good chance of passing the SJC, as its membership is 6 Democrats and 4 Republicans. Senator Linda Lopez, who is working on the amendments this weekend, is also a member of the SJC and so is in a good position to translate our concerns from the Rules Committee to the Judiciary.

The Senate Judiciary Committee reportedly will also be hearing Senator Cisco McSorley's election reform bill (SB1065) on Wednesday, upon which members of United Voters of New Mexico and Sonja Elison have worked very hard. There is a chance that our preferred language on voter verifiable paper ballots and automatic audit in this bill may be transferred to Sen. Lopez's combination bill if all goes well this weekend.

As things stand, it looks like people should try to attend the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 2, at 2:30 PM in Room 321 to continue to impress upon the Democratic Senators that election reform is vital and must include provisions for voter verifiable paper ballots and automatic audits and recounts. But keep checking back in case of last-minute changes. At this point in the Legislature, things are very fluid and scheduling can change very quickly.

(Thanks to DFNM member Dory Shonagon for information included in this post. A report on these events with additional information, released by United Voters of New Mexico, follows below.)

LEGISLATION UPDATE
Thank you to everyone who attended the Senate Rules Committee this morning. It lasted until after 2pm, but we accomplished what needed to be done.

Bob Stearns of Verified Voting New Mexico summarizes:
Hi All, Charlotte and Wayne report that the Senate Rules Committee today passed the Election Reform Substitute Bill (SRC/SB40) without recommendation. Consideration began around noon and Senators Linda Lopez (also Committee Chair) and Gerry Ortiz y Pino went through the bill page by page. The Chair gave time for comment by VVPB and Automatic Audit supporters among the public attendees, and substantial discussion focused on the true nature of the VVPB as opposed to the end-of-day print-out tape produced by existing machines. The vote was partisan, with Dems voting for and Repubs against (the latter voting mainly against the Voter ID section of the bill, as being too weak).

Committee Chair Lopez said she intends to make amendments to the bill when it is considered probably early next week in the Judiciary Committee, of which she is a member. She also said that she will check with the House side to move the bill through. This appears now to be the Governor's Bill. Best, Bob S.

In addition, our statements, which all referred to VOTER VERIFIABLE PAPER BALLOTS and AUTOMATIC AUDITS, seemed to strongly affect all of the Senators. In addition to being concerned about the Voter ID section of the bill, the Republicans were concerned that if SRC didn't amend the bill before passing it on, that the other committees didn't have the expertise to do so. Our amendments were in part what they were referring to.

So not only was the bill passed as we hoped, I believe we also made an impact on the opinions of the Senators in attendance.

(To subscribe to the United Voters of New Mexico email list, send an email from the address that you wish to subscribe to, to update-subscribe@UVoteNM.)

SF Air America to Feature Mother Media, Sen. Ortiz y Pino and More Saturday

From Leland Lehrman at Mother Media:
Mother Media goes live again on the Santa Fe Air America affiliate KTRC 1260 AM, at 5 PM this Saturday, 2/26. We immediately preceed the Laura Flanders show on Air America.

Honored guests this week include Albuquerque State Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino. Ortiz y Pino's bill, SB 718 forms core sections of the new Senate Election Reform Bill, which hits the Senate Rules Committee today (Friday) sometime after 8:30 AM. Ortiz y Pino and his aide Harry Pavlides have led the fight for Voter Verifiable Paper Ballots and Automatic Audits in the Legislature and we look forward to a complete update on the bill's status from the Senator's point of view.

Mother Media has also invited Governor Richardson and his political consultant Eli Lee, but cannot confirm their participation.

Eli and the Governor's office have been very open to public input on election reform, and are working on incorporating the all-important voter verifiable paper ballot with automatic audit provisions into their bill. We hope Eli or the Governor makes it on to advise us of their points of view.

Stephen Fox, the main author of Senate Bill 525, the Nutrition Council Act, will also join us this week.

SB 525 empowers New Mexico to design superior nutrition standards and education programs. National nutrition standards are deeply flawed and riddled with controversial allowances, such as unlabeled genetically modified food and aspartame or Nutrasweet, the highly toxic sweetener in nearly all "sugar-free" foods. Stephen and I agree New Mexico can do better.

As Stephen put it to me in a recent email: "We passed SB 525 in the House business and industry committee 7-4. I had a physician with me, Dr. Eliza Schmid, who taught at Stanford Medical School, and she blasted aspartame in detail, explained the biochemistry, and particularly drew attention to the effects on children of drinking diet cokes (the medical testimony was vital, I think, if for no other reason than the legislators [now] realize how they have been lied to for decades - the FDA and corporate control of the regulating process all came up ... it was great."

Even the FDA struggled for years to prevent legalization of aspartame: "Who knows more about the toxicity of aspartame than the FDA.  Their toxicologists, Doctors Adrian Gross and Jacqueline Verrett  strenuously objected to aspartame approval for 16 years. It wasn't just that aspartame is not safe and in original studies triggered brain tumors, seizures and all sorts of other tumors, it was that the manufacturer filtered out what they didn't want FDA to see." -  Dr. Betty Martini, Founder, Mission Possible Intl.

We're excited about this week's program. If you are too and have a cause or business you would like to promote, sponsorships are available. Call 505.982.3609 now because our introductory rates are ending soon.

Leland Lehrman, Mother Media
604 1/2 Galisteo Street
Santa Fe, NM  87505
leland@33o.com

URGENT ALERT: Election Reform Bill

We need as many people as possible to attend the Senate Rules Committee at 8:30 AM tomorrow (Friday) in Room 321 at the Santa Fe Roundhouse.

According to United Voters of New Mexico, the substitution election reform bill that will be discussed isn't clear enough legally on the issue of voter verified paper ballots, and there are also problems with the bill in terms of automatic audit procedures. We need to have people testify politely that these are crucial to election reform that is meaningful. There is a good chance that if enough support is shown on these issues at the hearing tomorrow, we can get the proper language included as amendments, now or in a future committee.

We need the word "ballot" vs. "trail" in the bill so that there is an actual "ballot" to count in a recount or audit. There is also national legislation going through which will specifiy "ballot." If it passes, almost immediately our machines will be in noncompliance with federal law unless we use the correct term "ballot."

In  our discussions with legislators, we are must be very clear that United Voters of New Mexico and DFNM can only agree to Voter Verifiable Paper Ballots and Automatic Audits.

If you can't be at the hearing tomorrow, please contact the Democrats on the Senate Rules Committee here.

CHECK FOR UPDATES FREQUENTLY ON THE ELECTION REFORM BILL HERE AND AT https://uvotenm.org/.

Be There Or Be Square

From United Voters of New Mexico:
ACTION UPDATE
Tomorrow, Wednesday, February 23rd is Election Reform Day at the Roundhouse. Starting at 8 AM, come out to support fair and transparent elections in New Mexico.

If you can't make it to the Roundhouse, call your legislators and the legislators that are working on this issue. Even one call makes a BIG difference. The Omnibus Election Reform Bill is before the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee. Click for members. Find your lesiglators here .

Make the following points:

VOTER VERIFIABLE PAPER BALLOTS
    *Legislation that doesn't specify WHO does the verifying leaves this open to interpretation. It could be argued that the current election code provides a verifiable print-out as it is.
    *There is a difference between a PAPER TRAIL and PAPER BALLOTS. Again, we currently have a PAPER TRAIL, and it only provides a tally at the end of the night. PAPER BALLOTS become the official record for recounts and resolution of any discrepancies.

AUTOMATIC MANUAL AUDITS
    *Election results tallied by a machine need to be checked to ensure the accuracy of the results. One small glitch in programming could change the results of an election, and without this check, the public is left to trust proprietary software that is owned by private companies and not subject to public scrutiny.

SCHEDULE
8:00 AM – 10:30 AM Be the lobbyist! Information packets will be available for you to share with your state legislators. Leland Lehrman will be in the rotunda to meet you and answer your questions. Leland is tall with long hair wearing a "Voter Verifiable Paper Ballots" button.

10:30 AM – 11:00 AM Voters lawsuit plaintiff’s press conference: Come hear first hand stories and a legal update from the voters who filed a lawsuit to obtain a permanent injunction on the paperless, electronic voting machines that caused so many problems in the 2004 General Election

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Verified Voting New Mexico will hold a press conference to address election reform bills.

SPEAKERS WILL INCLUDE:
Maggie Toulouse, League of Conservation of Voters
Agnes Mosses, NAACP
Representative Justine Fox-Young (R)
Representative Mary Helen Garcia (D)
Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino (D)
12:00 PM - Finish up lobbying!

Hope to see you there!!! https://UVoteNM.org

VERY IMPORTANT: Please Attend Election Reform Day at NM Legislature on Wednesday

Please consider attending Election Reform Day at the Legislature in Santa Fe on Wednesday, February 23rd at the Roundhouse. Consponsored by United Voters of NM and Verified Voting NM, this is perhaps our best chance to convince legislators that there is widespread and passionate support for such things as voter verified paper ballots, automatic random recounts and more.

We know that many of you work during day, but if there's an event that merits taking the day off to work at democracy, this is it. If we don't have fair, transparent and accountable voting, what do we have?

LET'S COME OUT IN LARGE NUMBERS ON WEDNESDAY so Legislators, reporters and our fellow citizens know how serious we are about supporting effective election reform -- not window dressing or a future committee study.

Here's a summary of events on February 23rd at the Capitol Rotunda:

8:00 AM - 10:00 AM Lobbying Legislators (pick up packet in Captiol Rotunda)

ELECTION REFORM DAY News Conferences
Date:  Wednesday, February 23
Time:  10:00 AM and 11:00 AM at Capitol Rotunda
Subjects: Law Suit on 2004 Voting Problems in New Mexico (10:00 AM)
The Need for Voter-Verifiable Paper ballots (11:00 AM)
Followed by Rally!

NOTE: Terry Riley of NM Democratic Friends has created a sign for us to hold up during these events. Download it here: JPEG version , , . Pass it on.

Here's the press release on Election Reform Day from United Voters of NM:

A coalition of citizens and organizations is urging the legislature to institute major reforms in New Mexico voting procedures, including voter-verifiable paper ballots for electronic machines, and automatic random recounts in every election.

“We ask our lawmakers to act now to ensure that votes by New Mexico citizens are efficiently cast and accurately counted,’ said Wayne Moses Burke of United Voters of New Mexico (UVoteNM), the coalition of election reform supporters.  “Without that assurance, our fundamental American right to vote has been and is in jeopardy.”

UVoteNM has set Wednesday February 23 as Election Reform Day at the Roundhouse and scheduled two news conferences on the issues in the Capitol Rotunda.  Activities start at 8 a.m. with a “citizens lobbying effort” and continue at 10 a.m. with a news conference by the plaintiffs in the pending lawsuit by New Mexico voters seeking an injunction against further use of voting machines that malfunctioned during the November election. At 11 a.m. there will be a news conference and speakers forum by Verified Voters New Mexico (VVNM), a voting rights advocacy group which is focused on the need for voter verified paper ballots and automatic audit provisions.

Organizations represented in the UVoteNM coalition include Verified Voting New Mexico,  Progressive Democrats of America, Democratic Party of Los Alamos County, NM Democratic Friends, Democracy for America - DFNM, Green Party of Santa Fe, Buena Gente, Tikkun, Las Vegas Peace & Justice Center, Las Vegas Committee for Peace & Justice, among others.

“We want a state law that mandates a voter-verified paper record of the votes counted by every electronic machine so that the machine count can be double-checked for accuracy,” said Pat Leahan of VVNM.  ”This issue cannot be postponed. Bernalillo County is considering buying more than a thousand new voting machines.  There will be a major waste of taxpayer money unless those machines are required to provide the voter-verified paper trail that makes audits and recounts possible.”

Wayne Moses Burke added, “Automatic audits are an absolute necessity in order to be sure that vote tallies from electronic machines are identical to those done by hand counting.”

Robert Stearns of VVNM said, “These are not partisan issues.  They affect all New Mexico voters, all candidates, all political parties.”

United Voters of New Mexico
1415-E West Alameda St.  Santa Fe NM 87501 505-310-1272
https://uvotenm.org/
A coalition of citizens and organizations committed to ensuring transparency, accuracy, and fairness in the voting system of New Mexico.

Update: Election Reform Day at the Legislature

From United Voters of New Mexico:

Save the Date – Voters of New Mexico!

Protect Your Democracy! Make your voices heard….

Wednesday February 23rd, 2005

United Voters of New Mexico is sponsoring Election Reform Day at the 2005 New Mexico State Legislative Session.

8 AM - 10 AM: Be the lobbyist! Information packets will be available for you to share with your state legislators.

10 AM – 10:30 Voters lawsuit plaintiff’s press conference: Come hear first hand stories and a legal update from the voters who filed a lawsuit to obtain a permanent injunction on the paperless, electronic voting machines that caused so many problems in the 2004 General Election

11:00 – 12:00 Verified Voting New Mexico will hold a press conference to address election reform bills

12:00 – 1:00 PM Rally: VVPB Now! (Voter Verifiable Paper Ballots)
***************
Editor's Note: Let's turn out in large numbers for this event to show how serious the voter's of New Mexico are about election reform! And visit the link to the United Voters of New Mexico website above. Excellent information and recommended actions.