Democracy for New Mexico

Startling Report on NM Election Points to Widespread Problems and Irregularities

Did you know that 1 out of 20 votes for President in New Mexico was "lost"?

Did you know that 1 out of 11 votes of Hispanic citizens in Bernalillo county was "lost"?

Did you know that 1 out of 12 Native American votes for President was lost in New Mexico?

Did you know that research shows that the different voting machine types used in New Mexico precincts are correlated with different kinds of voting errors and that New Mexico is planning on spending tens of thousands of dollars to buy new machines before 2006?

All this and more is included in the detailed and well-documented "A Summary Report on New Mexico State Election Data," prepared by Ellen Theisen and Warren Steward for www.HelpAmericaRecount.org. The report, dated 1/4/05, was released last week at press conferences in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, along with a brief summary of its findings. Click for a pdf file of this amazing and disturbing 12-page report.

According to the brief summary report

Analysis of the official New Mexico State election data reveals a pattern of stunning errors and severe irregularities in the election data. Until the paper ballots are examined and the electronic voting data verified, the canvass report certified by the State of New Mexico cannot be regarded as an accurate reflection of the will of the people.

Other findings include:

Excessively high numbers of undervotes (ballots with no vote recorded for president) suggest that thousands of votes may not have been counted. For example, none of Dona Ana County's 207 overseas absentee ballots reported a presidential vote.

Although only 41% of the state's voters cast their ballots on push-button electronic voting machines (Shouptronic and Advantage), these machines accounted for 77% of the presidential undervotes, raising doubts about their accuracy.

Although NM Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron has stated that the auditor they hired to review the election results found nothing amiss, the auditor's letter says they found 233 errors in the data provided for absentee precincts and that the data compiled by Dona Ana County contained 222 errors. Click for a copy of the Audit letter from Robert J. Rivera, CPA.

The Green and LIbertarian presidential candidates have filed with the Appeals Court in NM to allow their requested recount to proceed. No action has yet been taken by the court and there has been no word on when they will consider hearing the case.

Thanks to Sonja Elison for information used in this report, which was presented at the DFA-DFNM Meetup on January 5th. Her organization, New Mexico Democratic Friends, will be spearheading an effort to push for real election reform at the upcoming NM Legislative Session. DFNM will be working with them on this, so keep on eye out on this blog for more information on this effort.

Important Meetings on Precinct Building

As announced at this weeks' DFA-DFNM Albuquerque Meetup, Terri Holland, Director of Party Affairs at the Democratic Party of New Mexico, will be hosting a planning meeting on Thursday, January 13th from 4:30 to 6:00 PM at the DPNM Office at 1301 San Pedro NE. We'll be brainstorming and developing plans to strengthen the Party's precinct structure and get more people involved. UPDATE: PLEASE ATTEND THIS MEETING ONLY IF YOU ARE SPECIFICALLY INTERESTED IN PLANNING THE 2/5 EVENT. OTHERWISE, PLEASE ATTEND THE GENERAL PRECINCT BUILDING MEETING DESCRIBED BELOW.

This planning will culminate in a precinct organizing event on Saturday, February 5th at 11:00 AM at the IBEW Hall at 4921 Alexander Blvd. NE FOR EVERYONE INTERESTED IN PRECINCT BUILDING. This will feature practical information on organizing to walk/call precincts to broaden the Democratic Party base and team building by ward.

Ward and precinct elections will be held sometime between March 3rd and March 17th of this year, so now is the time to get involved. DFNM is encouraging as many members as possible to become precinct and ward chairs, as well as to fill other Party slots, so please consider coming to the planning meeting next Thursday.

NM DNC Members Who Will Vote for Chair

If you'd like to write a letter of support for Howard Dean as DNC Chair here's the contact information you'll need. The DNC Southern Regional Caucus is meeting this weekend in Atlanta, and all the candidates for DNC Chair, official or not, will be making presentations. Dean is expected to make an announcement next week about whether he will officially pursue the job.

From John McAndrews:
Here are the names and addresses  of the voting members of the DNC who live in New Mexico.  Now is the time to make known your choice for DNC Chair.

Please be courteous  when addressing these folks. It would not be appropriate to take out on them any anger or frustrations  you may have with the party. We want to encourage, not alienate, them.

Mary Gail Gwaltney
1910 W. Alameda
Las Cruces, NM 88005

Gloria Nieto
1451 Santa Cruz
Santa Fe, NM 87505

John Wertheim
c/o Democratic Headquarters
1301 San Pedro NE
Albuquerque, NM 87110

Raymond Sanchez
PO Box 1966
Albuquerque, NM 87103

Annadelle Sanchez
920 Denton Street
Espanola, NM 87532
*****************
Here are some recent stories about the race for the DNC. MyDD has been doing an excellent job of reporting on this.

DNC Chatter: Jerome Armstrong, MyDD

Tim Roemer, Republican Noise Machine Lackey: Chris Bowers, MyDD

Bad Idea Jeans (McAuliffe): Chris Bowers, MyDD

DNC Chair CattleCall: New Year Edition: Jerome Armstrong, MyDD

Comic Strip Takes on NM Recount

Darrin Bell's Candorville, a comic strip that appears in the Albuquerque Tribune and other newspapers, hit the nail on the head concerning Gov. Richardson's refusal to allow a presidential vote recount without the prepayment of $1.4 million. Click here for the January 4th strip. We understand the inspiration for this cartoon was provided by our own Andrea Sterling. Job well done Darrin and Andrea!

Join Progressive Women for Health Legislation Discussion

Please join the Progressive Women - Issues Matter for a discussion of health issues legislation 2005. The public is invited - women and men - no charge.

FORUM GUESTS:
Lieutenant Governor Diane D. Denish
Senator Dede Feldman
Representative Danice Picraux
Michelle Lujan Grisham, Secretary, NM Department of Health

MODERATOR:
Kate Nelson, Managing Editor, Albuquerque Tribune

UNM LAW SCHOOL - ROOM 2401
SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 2005 - 2:00 PM

For information call:
Zora Hesse, 265-3031
Ida Humphrey, 294-4015
Imogene Lindsay, 299-7454
Frances Ray, 873-0615

The 2005 Legislative Session will be from January 18 to March 17. The last day for the Governor to pocket veto legislation is April 8.

North Valley Pre-Legislative Forum Set for Thursday

From DPBC e-news:
A North Valley Pre-Legislative Forum will be held:

January 6, 2005 (Thursday)
7 PM to 9 PM
North Valley Senior Center - 3825 Fourth NW

Sponsored by: North Valley Coalition and Alameda North Valley Association

Invited guests include:
Senator Dede Feldman
Senator John Ryan
Representative Ed Sandoval
Representative Rick Miera
Representative Teresa Zanetti

WILL THIS LEGISLATIVE SESSION BE PRODUCTIVE?   
What are the important issues for State Government?
What health care changes are in the Governor's agenda?
What changes are in store for our schools?
What are your issues?

Attend the Forum! Find out what the Legislators have to say about North Valley issues and let them know what your opinion is!

If you have any questions for the Legislators sent them back by email and we will try to have them answered. Please share this information with your neighbor. Call 897-3052 for information and the email address.

Did We Bounce An Election?

A January 1, 2005 article by Warren Stewart of VotersUnite.org published in the Columbus Free Press takes on the problem of undervotes and phantom votes in the NM election results. Excerpts:

". . . An examination of the New Mexico canvass report of the November 2 election suggests that the state might be running the risk of bouncing an election.

The canvass report (available as a pdf from the NM Secretary of State's website ) is the official record of the election results . . With so much at stake, one would expect the canvass report to be a lot cleaner than my checkbook. That is not the case.

Much has been made of New Mexico's dubious honor of leading the nation in undervote percentage . . . Secretary of State Vigil-Giron seems surprisingly unconcerned about undervotes commenting recently that she doesn't "spend a lot of time on undervote issues, I'm just speculating that some voters are just not concerned with the presidential race." Does it really seem possible that 17,095 people (almost 1 in 20) felt compelled stand in line on Election Day in order to cast no vote for president?  Did 1,664 people actually bother to cast their non-vote early and another 2,325 express their lack of opinion by absentee ballot?  It seems just as likely that some of those undervotes represent votes that were not counted by the machines - and we will never know about how those votes might have affected the outcome.

Had she chosen to spend a little more time on undervote issues she might have noticed the curious fact that 85% of these apathetic voters chose to express their lack of concern on electronic voting machines - the ones without a paper trail. She also might have noticed that the undervote rate is roughly the same in the congressional and judicial races on the ballot, suggesting the possibility that entire ballots may have been blank rather than just the presidential selections. How do we know these machines did not lose entire ballots, as paperless voting machines have been shown to do in other elections?

As for phantom votes, the Secretary of State maintains they are simply "not possible."   Much as I would like to agree with her, the canvass report suggests that there do seem to be phantoms residing in New Mexico - in almost half the counties.  In fact, 228 phantoms seem to be in Dona Ana County precinct 106 where 107 absentee ballots somehow recorded 325 presidential votes.  Bernalillo County Precinct 558, 141 phantoms voted early, while in Precinct 14, 114 phantoms waited until Election Day.  In all there are 2,087 phantom votes in this state where the margin of victory, according to the same canvass report where all these phantom votes are hiding, was 5,988. If these phantom votes were ignored what else was ignored?
-------------------
A report prepared by Ellen Theisen and Warren Stewart in support of the Green/Libertarian New Mexico recount effort along with a comprehensive database on the 2004 New Mexico election can be downloaded at VotersUnite.org.

NM Undervotes Increase According to VotersUnite.org

VotersUnite.org has a piece on Phantom Votes in New Mexico that examines data from the NM Secretary of State's website to conclude that:

". . .the discovery of 2,087 phantom votes shows that New Mexico's excessive undervote rate is really higher than previously thought. Instead of reporting 18,997 ballots with no vote (or an overvote) for president, New Mexico really reported 21,084 presidential undervotes.

Rather than an already high rate of 2.45%, New Mexico's undervote rate for 2004 is actually 2.72%."

You can download a pdf file of the report and the top twenty phantom-vote precincts in New Mexico by clicking here: Download NewMexico-Top20phantom-voteprecincts.pdf.

Click to see all 2,087 phantom votes.

Rallying Sen. Bingaman: Decertifying Electors

From: sfresearch@33o.com
Subject: Phone Calls, SF Press Conference, Rally Bingaman on January 4th, at Santa Fe Capitol, Noon

This week is going to be exciting. Activists are in negotiations with Senator Jeff Bingaman and his people on two counts: decertifying the Ohio *and* the New Mexico electors. Keep up the phone calls to Senator Bingaman on both accounts: DC: 202.224.5521 and NM: 1-800-443-8658. Full office number list: click here.

Call every influential sympathetic citizen you can think of and make sure they have the numbers and are urged to call. This is the only way Democracy is going to work. If you know who finances Bingaman's elections, contact them.

Don't like making phone calls? It's actually a lot of fun. Political conversation is the most dynamic of human interaction short of the spiritual. This is exciting stuff. Feel energized as you realize you are having an effect. Call me at 505.982.3609 if you need a coaching session.

Call friends in other states and have them call their Senators. Full court press, folks. Citizen, take courage. Remember: You have the power. If you can imagine it, you can do it.

We are moving the rally at Bingaman's office to Tuesday the 4th, though we will also assemble there on the 6th at Noon. I will have to see what can be done regarding permits tomorrow.

Regardless, Bingaman's office and the police chief Beverly Lennon (sp) will be notified in advance about the two dates: the 4th and 6th. The importance of the 4th is twofold: get a jump and be proactive before the vote which is on the 6th and piggyback on the press conference at the Roundhouse regarding the New Mexico recount which is at 12 Noon on the 4th.

Tentatively, given permission, we will march from the press conference at the Roundhouse down to the Plaza, past the library and up Marcy Street to Bingaman's office (Suite 101, 119 East Marcy). I recommend that each person bring a personal letter with them and that we each go in individually or in pairs with the letters to drop them off.

We should be dropping off letters and documentation in support of this effort all week. In particular give the Senator articles appearing at Online Journal, Greg Palast, Truthout and Free Press, and the Conyers investiation documents.

Anything you find out there that is a quality news item regarding the vote fraud and election theft is a good thing to accompany a personal letter.

Fax material to: 202-224-2852

Senators listen to their aides. These are the names of Senator Bingaman's Washington aides. Try to get either Stephan or Trudy on the line to determine what's going on and to make an impression:

Chief of Staff: Stephan Ward
Appointment Secretary: Virginia White
Legislative Director: Trudy Vincent
Press Secretary: Jude McCartin

Think of this in two ways:

1. This is citizen lobbying of our elected representatives.
2. This is we provide political cover for our Senator to do the right thing.

Would you believe that the excuse the Senators gave in 2000 for not supporting the Black Caucus in their call for a halt to the Electoral Vote was that no one asked them?

Let's make it perfectly clear. We are asking our Senator, Jeff Bingaman, to put in writing his objection to the Ohio and New Mexico electors according to the United States Code:

"3 U.S.C. ß15: Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one Senator and one Member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received."

What happens after that? Here's the details: click for Daily Kos story.

To recap: all week stream into Bingaman's office with personal, handwritten or typed letters including relevant press articles from around the internet or synopses of radio shows like Air America or  Democracy Now.

On Tuesday, show up at the Roundhouse at 12pm Noon to support the continuing efforts to recount the vote in New Mexico. The recent audit in New Mexico showed hundreds of discrepancies in a tiny sampling. New Mexico is not Red yet.

After the press conference, join us for a march to Bingaman's office. This march will be either formal or informal, depending on whether or not we get permission. I will keep everyone updated. At Bingaman's office, let's stay respectful and go in one at a time if we have something to deliver.

Finally, on September 6th, let's once again keep a vigil at Bingaman's office, getting news out to the people about what has transpired in Congress.

Hey, Constitutional Democracy can be fun.

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.