Clerks in a bind over voting machines

DARRYL NEWMAN, Monitor Staff Writer

Because the voting machines used in elections on the Hill are unlike most others in the state, Los Alamos County is not facing the same predicament as other counties.

All county clerks in the state trying to prepare for Feb. 1 school board elections have been told by the secretary of state not to clear general election voting results from machines because of a pending lawsuit.

Green and Libertarian candidates are appealing a district court ruling upholding the state canvassing board's decision to make them pay $1.4 million in advance for a statewide recount of presidential votes.

The candidates filed a notice last week they would go to the state Court of Appeals and the secretary of state advised clerks to hold off on clearing the machines.

Sheryl Nichols, Los Alamos County deputy clerk, said the machines in the county do not keep vote totals and thus do not need to be cleared after every election.

"This affects other counties and I hope that they get it straightened out," Nichols said. The county uses Eagle Optic voting machines, Nichols said. Early voting in the school board elections begins Friday and Nichols said her office is prepared.

"We're on track and ready," she said.

County Clerk Mary Pat Kraemer agreed.

"Our plans are going forward and we're going along with any requests from the secretary of state," Kraemer said.

Polling Places for Los Alamos County School District 1, as well as University of New Mexico-Los Alamos, include the White Rock Town Hall - Precincts 1, 2 and 3 and the Los Alamos Community Building - Precinct 7.

In District 2 and UNM-LA, voters may cast ballots at the White Rock Town Hall in Precincts 4, 5 and 6. UNM-LA voters in Districts 3, 4 and 5 may vote at the Los Alamos County Clerk's Office. This includes Precincts 8-13, 14.1 and 14.2 and 15-17.

In the state challenge, the third party candidates' lawyer, Lowell Finley, acknowledged Tuesday that the clerks were "between a rock and a hard place" but he blamed the state canvassing board, which consists of the governor, secretary of state and chief justice of the state Supreme Court. Finley said he hoped the counties' dilemma would increase pressure on the board to resolve the lawsuit by agreeing to a partial recount. The candidates have proposed to pay in advance for a recount of 10 percent of the state's precincts, and then seek a full recount only if the results warranted it. "We still believe that is a reasonable solution," Finley said at a news conference. Under their proposal, the recount would be broader than just a retallying of votes.

Voting machines would be closely examined, and so-called provisional ballots that were rejected would be reviewed to determine whether they should be counted. Gov. Richardson, the canvassing board's chairman, said last month he opposed a partial recount. A spokesman, Billy Sparks, said Tuesday the governor hasn't altered his position.

Recount advocates say their analysis of the canvass of the Nov. 2 election in New Mexico casts serious doubt on the accuracy of the results certified by the canvassing board. For example, the state had the nation's highest rate of presidential undervotes - ballots with no vote for president - and they disproportionately occurred among voters using push-button electronic voting machines, advocates said.

Although 41 percent of New Mexico's voters used the push-button machines, the machines accounted for 77 percent of the undervotes, according to their analysis. The presidential undervote in New Mexico this year was about 2.5 percent. In the prior nine presidential elections, it has ranged from 1.5 percent to 4.5 percent; in five of those years, it exceeded 2.5 percent. Recount advocates say the undervote rate suggests that some election equipment may have failed to record presidential votes.

Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron disputed that, contending that there were many voters who didn't want to vote for any of the presidential candidates.

"I'm in a very big bind," Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera said Tuesday. She may ask for a court order allowing her to erase the Nov. 2 election data. Ordinarily, clerks would have begun in December to wipe the general election data off the machines and reprogram the cartridges for the upcoming election, Herrera said.

"We have to program those machines and we've got to get them tested and delivered by Feb. 1," said the clerk, who added that it would be too costly to buy cartridges or rent other machines.

Herrera said she can use demonstration machines from the Nov. 2 election at the early voting sites.