Vote machines being cleared

Judge rules against stay on erasure

By Ed Asher
Albuquerque Tribune Reporter
January 19, 2005

County workers have begun erasing and reprogramming voting machines and will begin delivering them to polling places next week, in time for the Feb. 1 school district election, Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera said.

A court ruling over the weekend cleared the way for the machines to be prepared, Herrera said Tuesday.

"Right now, we have started the process of getting 300 voting machines ready so we can have them certified by the Secretary of State's Office and tested by next week," she said.

"The judge ruled that is was too late in the game to try to stop the machines from being cleared."

Attorneys representing eight New Mexico voters filed a motion in state District Court in Albuquerque on Friday seeking a temporary restraining order against Herrera and 10 other New Mexico county clerks.

The voters wanted a court order preventing machines used in the last general election from being cleared. They said the machines should remain locked while they appeal a ruling by the state Canvassing Board requiring them to pay $1.4 million up front for a recount of the presidential election.

Lowell Finley, one of the attorneys representing the eight plaintiffs, also represents Green and Libertarian party presidential candidates.

"We didn't want the voting machines cleared, to protect the integrity of the results of the general election," said David Garcia, another attorney representing the eight plaintiffs.

But state District Judge William Lang on Saturday denied the request for a restraining order.

Finley and Garcia both said they are still assessing their options.

"The restraining order would have prevented them (the county clerks) from clearing the voting machines. Since that was denied, they can go ahead and begin clearing them," said Sam Thompson, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's Office.

Herrera has 13 machines in the County Clerk's Office for use in early voting in the Albuquerque Public Schools election.

Another 300 are being prepared for shipment to polling sites.

Early voting ends on Jan. 28.

"We'll start delivering them to the sites next week," Herrera said.