New Mexico Recount Goes Back to Court

CommonDreams   28 December 2004
  
NEW MEXICO December 28 Attorneys for Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb will file a Notice of Appeal on Tuesday from a District Court decision which rejected Cobb's request to start the New Mexico recount without paying the entire cost of it in advance. Last week the New Mexico Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Since the Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the case, it can be heard by the New Mexico Court of Appeals.

The Notice will be filed on behalf of Cobb and Libertarian presidential candidate Michael Badnarik who are both seeking a recount of New Mexico's presidential vote. The candidates paid the state a deposit of over $100,000, and say that New Mexico law does not require that the entire amount of the recount be paid in advance.

"We believe the law is on our side and look forward to a full recount of the presidential vote. There are still many unanswered questions about provisional ballots, missing votes and the integrity of voting machines which don't produce a paper trail. The people of New Mexico deserve to know that their votes will be counted fairly and accurately," said Cobb.

On Tuesday, Cobb and Badnarik's attorneys will also be notifying the New Mexico Secretary of State, the Attorney General and the Clerks for all of New Mexico's 33 counties, that the Notice of Appeal prevents them from "opening and clearing" voting machines throughout the state.

"Although, generally, voting machines can be cleared 30 days after the official certification of the vote, New Mexico law is clear that this can't happen when a recount has been initiated. The candidates have paid the deposit for the recount and we expect it to go forward, so any adjustment to the machines would be clearly inappropriate until the recount has been concluded," said Lowell Finley, one of the attorneys representing the candidates.

For more information about the Cobb-LaMarche campaign and its recount efforts in New Mexico and Ohio, see http://www.votecobb.org.