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In 2004, New Mexico worst at counting votesBy JAMES W. BROSNAN Scripps Howard News Service 22-DEC-04
The state with the worst record for counting votes in 2004 also was the state President Bush won by the fewest ballots _ New Mexico.
There were 18,997 ballots _ 2.5 percent of all 615,074 votes cast _ in New Mexico that indicated no choice for president or were not counted because the voter marked more than one choice, according to a Scripps Howard News Service study.
That's three times Bush's victory margin of 5,988 votes _ but to change the outcome, the Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry would have needed to collect votes at a two-to-one margin.
The New Mexico state supreme court is now mulling a request by the Green and Libertarian Party presidential candidates to order a recount. Gov. Bill Richardson and other state officials are resisting a recount unless the Greens and Libertarians put up $1.4 million in advance to pay for the cost.
Reacting to the Scripps Howard study, Rick Lass, state director for Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb, said: "I think it's highly unusual that people would go to the polls and then not vote in the most important race on the ballot. That's one of the reasons we want to have a recount."
But New Mexico Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron said, "I'm just speculating that some voters are just not concerned with the presidential race."more; http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=MISCOUNT-NM-12-22-04
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