Thursday, November 09, 2006
UPDATE 10 p.m. Thursday: Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M, declared victory just after 10 p.m. MST in the race for New Mexico's 1st Congressional District. Election.
Vote-Counting Continues in Tight N.M. Congressional Race
By Tim Korte/
Associated Press
Election workers in New Mexico's 1st Congressional District tallied absentee ballots and began examining provisionals Thursday in a razor-thin House race between Rep. Heather Wilson and Patricia Madrid.
The outcome wasn't expected to be determined until at least Friday, when more than 2,698 provisional and 1,058 in-lieu of ballots were to be counted when Bernalillo County — the largest county in the state — canvassed its election results.
By law, the provisional votes can't be counted until the canvass.
So another day passed where election workers counted and clerks logged late results in the five counties encompassing the 1st District.
The candidates continued to wait — with Wilson, the GOP incumbent, leading by about 1,300 votes of out more than 203,000 cast.
But by late Thursday, her lead jumped to about 1,600 once Bernalillo County finished counting nearly 4,000 absentee ballots.
Emotions boiled over during an evening news conference at the warehouse where votes are being counted. Representatives from the Democratic and Republican parties traded allegations that suggested the other side was trying to tilt the count to their favor.
GOP attorney Pat Rogers accused the Democrats of dirty tricks because their party's executive director was a vote-counter, while a spokesman for Wilson's campaign complained about the slow pace of the work since Tuesday's election.
"If there is honest and open accounting, Heather Wilson is going to be re-elected,'' Rogers predicted, basing his assertion on Wilson's continuing lead. "If there is not an honest and open count, we have concerns.''
New Mexico Democratic Party chairman John Wertheim angrily countered that it was too early to declare victory and said a recount is likely. Democrats also alleged a Wilson congressional staffer had registered to vote as a Democrat and was taking part in the count — a claim Rogers denied.
"Democrats want every legitimate vote counted,'' Wertheim said. "Anything to the contrary is absolutely not fair.''
Bernalillo County election administrator Jaime Diaz said workers planned to begin counting provisionals Friday but cautioned that the work could stretch into Saturday. About 3,700 provisional ballots were cast by people who, for example, could not provide identification or whose name did not appear on the roster at the polling place.
Republicans believe the trend appears to support Wilson's re-election. Of the estimated 7,300 outstanding Bernalillo County ballots, Madrid would need to win 59 percent to make up her current deficit — about three of every five votes.
But that scenario assumes all the provisional ballots would be valid, which isn't likely to happen. With a smaller pool after some provisionals are disqualified, they said Madrid's needed percentage for victory would expand beyond 60 percent.
The Democratic and Republican parties also went to court to quibble over how the provisional ballots should be examined.
Their arguments proved moot when state District Judge James Hall in Santa Fe denied a request by Democrats and Madrid to block state regulations that govern whether provisional ballots are valid and should be counted.
Initially, Democrats and Madrid contended there was a conflict between the regulations and a 2005 state law. They later backed away from that position after the secretary of state's office outlined its views on the procedures for dealing with provisional ballots.
The case also was shifted to federal court. But after a brief hearing, U.S. District Judge Bruce Black concluded there was no legal dispute that required him to act.
Chris Coppin, a lawyer representing the secretary of state's office, said a 2004 attorney general's legal opinion about provisional ballots was sent Thursday to county clerks.
___
Associated Press writer Barry Massey in Santa Fe contributed to this report.
elex 
...go to bookmarks
E-mail Story
Print Friendly
