Recount will be costly, lengthy

By Shea Andersen
Albuquerque Tribune Reporter   01 December 2004

Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White might soon be driving around his jurisdiction even more than usual.

As the tidal wave of a statewide election recount hits New Mexico, White and his deputies could get swept up in the mess.

The recount was requested Monday by two lesser-known candidates for president in New Mexico: Green Party candidate David Cobb and Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik.

A wrinkle of recount law is that White's department would have to hand-deliver summonses to every precinct board member in Bernalillo County.

"We'll do it. The law's clear," said White, who also served as county chairman for the Bush-Cheney campaign. "But I can list a lot of other things that we could be doing."

There are 413 precincts in Bernalillo County.

On Monday, Cobb and Badnarik sent the Secretary of State's Office their recount request with a check for $114,400 as a deposit to pay for the effort.

"It could cost four times that amount," said an exasperated Denise Lamb, chief of the elections division for the state. "Let's hope we can make them pay."

Cobb and Badnarik might be forced to pay for the entire cost of recounting the 776,010 votes cast in the Nov. 2 election.

Lamb has asked the office of New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid to look into the matter. On Tuesday, Assistant Attorney General David Thomson said preliminary reviews of state election code weren't yet clear on who would pick up the tab.

A spokesman for Cobb said there were too many discrepancies in the election results to not ask for the recount.

Several of their reasons, explained Cobb spokesman Blair Bobier, focus on Bernalillo County.

Those include the hundreds of provisional ballots that were disqualified by Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera's staff.

In a statement Monday, Cobb said he was concerned also about the accuracy of electronic voting machines now widely used in New Mexico.

"We want to ensure that every vote is counted and verify the accuracy of the electronic voting machines, particularly those which produce no paper trail," Cobb said.

Bobier said he is also concerned about the roughly 20,000 people in the state who voted - but not for any presidential candidate.

"It seems odd that in a hotly-contested presidential race that thousands of people would abstain," Bobier said.

Cobb and Badnarik have made similar recount requests in Nevada and Ohio.

In New Mexico President Bush beat Democrat John Kerry by nearly 6,000 votes.

Cobb received 1,226 votes, or 0.2 percent of the total votes cast.

Badnarik received 2,380 votes, or 0.3 percent of the votes cast.

Bobier said the recount requests are not intended to change the outcome of the election.

"What we really want to do is insure the integrity of the process," Bobier said.

But White said they might be asked to pay for the entire process.

"I think they need to reconsider," White said. "This could be a very costly exercise for them."

It could be time-consuming as well, and time is of the essence. Although the election was made official by the state Nov. 23, New Mexico's five electors still have yet to meet to cast the state's five electoral votes for Bush. That meeting is set for Dec. 13.

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WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

Billy Sparks, spokesman for Gov. Bill Richardson: "The governor does not think that a recount is necessary. President Bush won this state."

Ashleigh Thompson, spokeswoman for the New Mexico Republican Party: "We don't think a recount will change the results of this election."

John Wertheim, chairman of the New Mexico Democratic Party: "I support any effort to make the public confident in the election process. Rather than dwelling on the prior election, our main strategy is to focus on reforms for the next election."

Carol Miller, co-chairwoman New Mexico Green Party: "The good thing is, if my gut feeling is accurate, is that the recount will reassure people who have lost faith in the electoral system."