ABQJOURNAL NEWS/STATE: Ideas Abound for Reforming NM Presidential Nominating Contest
By Heather Clark/Associated Press
The day after Super Tuesday, the state Democratic Party and representatives for Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama reached an agreement about what ballots would be deemed valid for the presidential caucus.
The agreement stated that the party and campaigns believed some of the 17,000 provisional ballots cast on Feb. 5 were not completed in accordance with party guidelines issued ahead of the caucus, so they enacted amended rules to validate as many ballots as possible.
Doug Lewis, executive director of The Elections Center in Houston, said the last-minute agreement is one sign that New Mexico's caucus was not operated by experienced election professionals. The caucus was run and paid for by the state Democratic Party, who relied mostly on volunteers.
"Oh my land, they're changing it on the fly,'' said Lewis, whose nonpartisan, nonprofit organization has worked with election administrators for 15 years. "You never do that. Whatever rules you start out with, you stick with.''
Comments