Voting Machines Being Cleared in New Mexico

[LeahD]

The article says that the attorneys involved are assessing their options. Bad day for democracy.


http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_local_state_government/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19859_3481732,00.html

Vote machines being cleared
Judge rules against stay on erasure

By Ed Asher
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."

[Liberty Belle]

1. Shame on Gov. Bill Richardson, a so-called DEM.

Remember this if he ever tries to run for a national office--
and I hope the NM Dems will run a strong candidate in the next gubernatorial primary.

The Guv just allowed evidence of a crime to be destroyed.

[Warpy]

9. I'll vote pubbie to get rid of Richardson

That's how bad I think he is.

Gary Johnson was a PEACH compared to him.

[Carolab]

12. I hope the Najavo and the Hispanics in NM will not forget this. n/t

[KatieB]

17. Blackwell used to be a Dem too-turned Repug in mid-80s

The Repugs have them in a can and pull them out and change their hats when they need them.

[understandinglife]

2. Willful destruction of evidence, noted by all.

BE THE BUSH OPPOSITION; 24/7

[Drifter]

3. The storage medium for these machines ...

should be made removable and archivable. We should NEVER throw any of the raw data away.

Cheers
Drifter

[uppityperson]

7. They don't store this somewhere? This should be criminal.

[Imagevision]

4. Richardson? -- says a lot for the Democrats huh!?

Why would you think that of all the things these polticians must do .. it's "lets dump the evidence, thats what really needs to be done and done asap!

[Vincardog]

5. Well we asked for a recount and paid for it. They want to pretend that

the election was fair. How better to prove their point than by destroying what little evidence there was? The truth is Gore won NM by 600+ votes in 2000. This time there were 10,000 more Native Americans registered than last time in NM. But the Bu$h junta won and the public decided to plow a superhighway through he Petroglyph (An active Native American religious site). Do you believe the election was fair? Hell No I don't. Resist
VIVA

[tridim]

6. Can someone explain why they "clear" the machines at all?

Aren't the results on flash memory cards? They're like 50 cents per MB. Save the old cards and buy new ones dumbasses. Then, back up the old software on the machines before updating them. It's like they chose every reject IT staffer in the country to run these machines.

Election 06 will be worse than the recent election. Mark my words.

[roguevalley]

8. Bill Richardson will never get my vote ever. Don't run Bill. For

anything national.

[Hugin]

10. Wait just one second...

How'd we get from "the judge ordered it" to "Richardson is a
creep and it's all his fault?"

Just asking.

FLAME ON!

[Al-CIAda]

13. Richardson has thrown roadblocks all the way through this. -eom

[LeahD]

14. History on Cobb Web Site

For the history, go to:

http://www.votecobb.org/recount/new_mexico/

"New Mexico's Democratic Governor Bill Richardson and Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron were against the recount effort from the start, possibly because much of the alleged fraud happened in Hispanic precincts. Although the alleged fraud seems to have helped Republicans, having a recount would cast a shadow on the state's two highest-ranking Hispanic Democrats. Governor Richardson has presidential aspirations, and Ms. Vigil-Giron currently serves as national president of the National Association of Secretaries of State."

[LeahD]

11. Icing on the Cake

Yesterday, in Richardson's State of the State address to the legislature, he called for electoral reform.

"Reform is also needed in our elections. We've just been through a very contentious one, and there is concern about the integrity of the system. While I support Speaker Lujan's call for a task force to help identify future solutions, I believe we need immediate action to restore confidence in our elections to ensure honesty and fairness. Voters should know that their votes count in New Mexico."


He has heard from me, and I ask other DUers to send faxes or E-mails, to let him know that others around the country are aware of his actions.

[LeahD]

15. Pardon Me

while I kick this thread that I started so everyone will take notice and let Richardson know how you feel!

[Carolab]

16. This might be a reason why New Mexico was blocked.

http://www.rmpn.org/weblog/archives3/permalink/003596.cfm

This gets interesting -- according to the Institute on Money in State Politics website, Ms. Vigil-Giron's 6th largest campaign contributor in 2002 was one Ken Carbullido, vice president of Election Systems and Software (ES&S)...

Rebecca Vigil-Giron is a Democrat, and other major campaign contributors include the New Mexico Federation of Labor. If that initially throws you off the scent, it's understandable -- I did a double take before thinking it through. Welcome to the confounding world of American elections, where the conflicts of interest seem to wedge their way in, heedless of other affiliations.

PR Newswire, Sept 25, 2003
The New Mexico Secretary of State has awarded a five-year, multi-million dollar agreement to Election Systems & Software Inc. (ES&S), to build, deploy, and support a HAVA-compliant, centralized, real-time, statewide voter registration and election management system...

************

I remember posting the other day that ES&S is a "sustaining member" of New Mexico's Association of Counties, when we were asked to research the software company that did the programming for the election, Automated Election Services aka Ink Impressions.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=283869#285026

[rdmccur]

18. Good find, Kick!

[Al-CIAda]

20. Ah hA! good find -eom

[L. Coyote]

19. One more item on the vote reform list. Backup all data. n/t

[Alizaryn]

21. Richardson will never have any of my support after watching

his behavior, I hope he never tries to run for anything nationally.