They're still counting votes in New Mexico --

[DeepModem Mom]

CNN: New Mexico Dems: Still counting after all this time

(CNN) – They're counting votes in New Mexico — still.

Six days after Super Tuesday, when millions of voters cast ballots in 24 states and America Samoa, the winner remains in doubt in the Democratic presidential caucus in New Mexico. Volunteers with the Democratic Party of New Mexico have been working 16 hours a day - in shifts - to try to figure out whether Democrats there preferred Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York or Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the state party said Sunday. "We know it is urgent to get these results completed," Chairman Brian S. Colon of the Democratic Party of New Mexico said in a statement Sunday.

The national media spotlight has moved on to primaries and caucuses in other states, including contests Tuesday in Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. Yet 227 volunteers with the Democratic Party of New Mexico are still slogging through provisional ballots — votes cast by people whose names did not appear on lists of eligible voters. Election rules let people cast provisional ballots that will be counted as long as officials verify that the person is eligible to vote.

As it stands now in New Mexico, Clinton leads Obama by 1,066 votes out of about 154,000 cast, according to the state Democratic Party. That total does not include 17,276 provisional ballots. The party faithful have been going through those provisional ballots - under the watchful eye of Clinton and Obama representatives - to determine how many are valid. The party has so far determined that 2,778 provisional ballots should be counted as votes for one candidate or the other, it said Sunday. Once party volunteers finish verifying or rejecting provisional ballots - a process called "qualifying" - then they will actually tabulate results.

The final count will determine how many of 26 delegates will go to Clinton and how many to Obama. The razor thin margin so far suggests that the two candidates could split the delegates or that one will emerge with an advantage of one or two delegates. That's not much when you consider that a candidate needs 2,025 delegates to become the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, but the extremely close race makes the New Mexico outcome the subject of more than academic curiosity - if only slightly....

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/02/11/new-mexico-dems-still-counting-after-all-this-time/

[Quixote1818]

1. The Clinton camp may be trying to slow down the count so New Mexico

is called well into Obama's winning streak. That way they can get a win in a news cycle instead of it sounding like such a long drought until Texas and Ohio.

Could be? :tinfoilhat: :shrug:

[TexasObserver]

2. Let's hope they were able to make sure those two Hillary supporters didn't stuff any ballot boxes

and if they did, identify them

[JVS]

3. Is the delegate allocation going to change because of this?

If not, :boring:

[EFerrari]

6. Because votes being counted are such a boring drag?

:shrug:

[JVS]

8. If they aren't going to make a difference, it's pretty trivial.

Unless there's some kind of crime involved.

[EFerrari]

9. Trivial? Our elections only are accepted by people because

they believe their votes are counted.

That's the basis for our democracy.

If my or your vote isn't counted, all of this dance is meaningless.

[JVS]

10. True. But if 99.99% are counted, the remaining .01% won't make much difference

Sure they should finish counting, but unless something big is there it isn't all that interesting.

[EFerrari]

11. How do you know what is there until you count the votes?

We don't know.

We didn't know in Florida.

We didn't know in Ohio.

And we don't know in New Mexico or California.

We can either hold elections or we can participate in pageantry.

They aren't the same thing.

[JVS]

12. What's your point? Yes votes should be counted, but this is not that interesting

If we have 100 votes and we've counted 98 of them with 48 vs. 50, it we know that the end result will be somewhere between 48 to 52 or 50 to 50. It has to be counted, but there is not major result, maybe a delegate changes hands. If this were winner take all, it would be HUGE, but the proportions are roughly the same.

[MADem]

4. Everyone is figuring it as twelve and twelve.

Now, it might end up thirteen -eleven, or fourteen-ten, but we aren't talking MASSIVE nmbers here.

[EFerrari]

5. It's amazing that the difference is so slim.

The number of uncounted ballots in Los Angeles add up to the difference, too. :tinfoilhat:

[ingac70]

7. The assholes that took the ballot boxes home with them...

need thrashing.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4482988&mesg_id=4482988

[joshcryer]

14. You'd rather they leave them in the polling place?

[ingac70]

15. They aren't suppose to take them home.

There are facilities to secure them.

[DeepModem Mom]

13. fyi kick

[question everything]

16. Are thy done, yet? (nt)

[thevoiceofreason]

17. CNN's current count show HRC - 13 and Barack with 12