With thousands of N.M. ballots uncounted, frustration grows with botched caucus

Kate Nash | The New Mexican

2/7/2008 - 2/8/08

As she watched the state Democratic Party struggle to total the results from Tuesday's presidential-preference voting, Deidre McCarthy wanted to help.

But when she called the party's headquarters in Albuquerque, all she got was an answering machine.

The office is closed until Feb. 11, the message said, adding to her — and others' — mounting frustrations over the handling of the election.

"The Democratic Party is completely unavailable, not only for me to scream at them, but to offer my services to do something to help," said McCarthy, a retired gallery owner who lives in Chimayó.

Three days after a sometimes-strained balloting process ended, the phone situation was symbolic of the troubles — and the backlash — the party faces.

Party chairman Brian Colón acknowledged the phone problem and said he'd work to fix it. The office is closed as all staff and volunteers have shifted to the ballot-counting activity at the offices of the REDW accounting firm in Albuquerque.

That is where the party sometime today could finally start counting more than 16,000 provisional ballots, he said.

The provisional ballots were cast around the state after voters found they were at the wrong polling place or their name wasn't on the list of registered voters. And they could affect the final tally in a close race to determine which candidate is guaranteed what share of New Mexico's delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August.

With all votes counted Thursday except the provisionals, preliminary results showed U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton holding a lead of 1,123 votes — 68,654 votes compared with 67,531 for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama.

Volunteers and election judges spent the day scanning sign-in sheets to create a database of those who voted. They then will qualify the provisional ballots by matching them to affidavits to verify the voters were registered and didn't vote in another precinct. After qualifying the ballots, they will hand tally the votes.

Colón said it is unclear when the counting would be finished. "We all want to get this done as quickly as possible," he said.

Party rules allow provisional ballots to be cast so voters in the wrong place — such as state lawmakers in Santa Fe for the legislative session instead of their home towns, for example — could cast a ballot.

But that process raised questions among some voters.

In Las Vegas, N.M., Kimberly Reed-Deemer took a copy of her 2006 registration with her to vote Tuesday.

To her surprise, she wasn't on the list and was asked to cast a provisional ballot, which she did.

The next day, she verified with both the San Miguel County Clerk and the Secretary of State's Office that she was registered.

"My question is: Why was I not on the list (at the polling place)?" she said. "I had the copy in my hand of my registration. I was on both lists. Why did I not turn up on the list? How do I know whether my vote will be disqualified or counted?"

As the questions pile up — along with reports of would-be voters who were discouraged by long, slow-moving lines and other problems at various polling sites — discontent with the party is growing.

"It was bad enough that there weren't enough ballots, but then to not have the people with enough authority to tell the poll workers what to do was unfortunate mistake No. 2," said McCarthy, 62.

"Colón should be hung by his thumbs or put in stocks in the middle of town or something," she said.

State Sen. Shannon Robinson, D-Albuquerque, said the party should learn from its mistakes — and start preparing for the November general election. That election, unlike Tuesday's caucus, will be run by state election officials rather than a political party.

Nonetheless, Robinson said, "Democratic leadership needs to be alert for the fact that there will be an overwhelming number of people voting in this election. We better get ready for that."

Colón has expressed regret about the situation, as has one of the state's highest-ranking Democrats, Gov. Bill Richardson. The governor issued a statement Wednesday saying he was disappointed by the delayed results. He was "deeply disturbed by the reports that problems and delays at polling locations may have kept people from voting. As this very close election shows, every vote is important, and every vote must count. Anything less is unacceptable."

The party is working on a manual to avoid similar problems in the future, said Colón, who has said he takes responsibility for the problems.

Colón has said funding played a role in the decision about how many polling places were opened Tuesday for in-person voting from noon to 7 p.m. The party used a list of polling places that consolidated various precincts, much like for a school board election.

McCarthy suggested she and others would have given money to the cause, had they been asked. "I would have sent in my 10 or 15 bucks," she said.

Meanwhile, state Sen. John Grubesic, D-Santa Fe, said he hopes voters weren't disenfranchised in the process. "We struggle so hard to get people to participate in the process, and when we do something like this, I think it undermines the whole process," he said.

And, he said, Colón, chairman since last April, could have done a better job. "This thing was a complete and total mess," he said. "I think he did a very poor job of running this, and I think ultimately he was put in that position to make sure this thing went off without a hitch, and that wasn't accomplished."

Party officials and Clinton and Obama representatives agreed Thursday night on a set of standards for qualifying provisional ballots. And both campaigns agreed the counting process has gone well so far.

"We've all been on the same page" as far as making sure ballots are counted correctly and that the process is inclusive, said Carlos Monje, state director for the Obama campaign.

Mara Lee, Clinton's state director for New Mexico, said she believes the process so far has been fair. "We are taking the time to make sure that it is clear and there is a standard that is consistent among all 33 counties and among every single ballot," Lee said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog, Green Chile Chatter, at www.sfnewmexican.com.