Caucus Catastrophe

Caucus problems: Herrera says human error, revised lists to blame - SantaFeNewMexican.com

Link: Caucus problems: Herrera says human error, revised lists to blame - SantaFeNewMexican.com.

ALBUQUERQUE — Secretary of State Mary Herrera said Thursday that some reports of problems with voter lists in New Mexico's presidential caucus Feb. 5 were caused by human error and others by changes made to the databank of voter information after the state Democratic Party received it.

Herrera said in an interview with The Associated Press that her office is looking into reports from voters and poll workers of missing names on the voter registration lists in the Super Tuesday caucus, which was run and funded by the state Democratic Party.

"I'm wanting to straighten this out because I am getting hundreds of e-mails from people who are very upset with the secretary of state's office, and this could discourage people from going out to the vote in the primary," Herrera said.

Herrera said her office is working long hours to prepare manuals and procedures ahead of the June primary.

"I feel that they (voters) can feel confident that their vote will count" in the primary, she said.

Herrera called on state Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colón to contact her "so we can straighten these things out."

Josh Geise, the party's interim executive director, said party officials are discussing how to proceed with investigating any problems with the voter lists. "Clearly the integrity of the voter lists is important, and we look forward to working with the secretary of state to ensure that they're accurate," said Geise, who began working for the party about two weeks after the caucus.

Asked about Herrera's charge that the party was responsible for accidentally dropping voters' names by changing the secretary of state's voter list after they received it, Geise said, "It's premature in the process, and we need to take a hard look at it before we make that determination."

Democratic Party leaders have been criticized for their handling of the caucus, which was riddled with problems including too few ballots, long lines at polling places and a large number of provisional votes, which, along with the tight race, delayed the results for nine days.

The results of the election — won narrowly by Hillary Rodham Clinton — weren't known until Feb. 14.

The party has said it will investigate the troubles on caucus day and is trying to be helpful to voters who call with concerns. Colón and Gov. Bill Richardson have scheduled an April summit in Albuquerque to discuss the caucus, and Colón and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish are talking about forming a committee to review the caucus.

The lists — where the names and addresses of voters are checked just before they are given ballots — determine who can cast a regular ballot versus a provisional ballot, which is checked against statewide voter rolls after an election.

More than 17,000 provisional ballots were cast in the Feb. 5 caucus, which was run like a primary.

In Mora County, where half the voters had to cast provisional ballots, about 1,000 Democrats — including state Auditor Hector Balderas — were stripped of their party affiliation in the county databank, and their names did not show up on voter registration lists on caucus day.

After a review, Herrera said she discovered the problem began July 27 when employees in the Mora County Clerk's Office accidentally removed voters' party affiliation while flagging names of voters in a previous election, which is routine maintenance done on the voter lists to keep them current.

Mora County Clerk Charlotte Duran was not at work Thursday and did not immediately return a message left at her office.

In Bernalillo County, two poll workers said they found many cases of longtime Democrats — who were regular voters and hadn't recently moved — that were not on the caucus voter lists.

Herrera said a representative from the Bernalillo County Clerk's Office told her the office is checking on complaints of missing names, and about 75 percent of those names were on the county clerk's list, and thereby in the secretary of state's databank that was given to the Democratic Party on Jan. 22.

Herrera said she thinks that a contractor hired by the Democratic Party to administer the election, TrueBallot, inadvertently left out some names as the company was working with the voter lists.

However, Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver said her office has not formally checked its voter lists against the Democrats' databank to see if there are any discrepancies in the county voter rolls.

"We stand at the ready to do whatever we need to do to help figure out what happened," she said. "My office has an intense interest in getting to the bottom of this."

Since she took office, Toulouse Oliver said she has overseen three large elections, and the caucus is the first time concerns have been raised about possible problems with the lists.

"Ultimately the interest to my office is to find out what happened so that the voting public can go into these upcoming elections with confidence in the list and the system," she said.


AP: Voters, poll workers question accuracy of lists - Las Cruces Sun-News

Link: AP Centerpiece: Voters, poll workers question accuracy of lists - Las Cruces Sun-News.

ALBUQUERQUE—Weeks after New Mexico's messy Feb. 5 presidential caucus, voters and poll workers are questioning whether voter registration lists that the state provided to Democratic Party officials were outdated or incomplete. Democratic Party leaders have been criticized for their handling of the caucus, which was riddled with problems including too few ballots, long lines at polling places and an inordinately large number of provisional votes, which take longer to count.

The final tally for the election—won narrowly by Hillary Rodham Clinton—wasn't known until Feb. 14, nine days after balloting.

In interviews with The Associated Press, several voters and volunteer poll workers pinpointed problems with the voter lists at polling places—and raised the possibility that the trouble may have originated not with the party but with the voter lists Democratic organizers were provided by the Secretary of State's office and county clerks.

In Mora County, for example, where half the voters cast provisional ballots, about 1,000 Democrats were stripped of their party affiliation in the Secretary of State's databank and so were never given to the Democratic Party for the caucus list, County


Democratic Party shows support for Colón - SantaFeNewMexican.com

Link: Democratic Party shows support for Colón - SantaFeNewMexican.com.

ALBUQUERQUE — New Mexico's Democratic Party chairman received a standing ovation during the party's first statewide meeting since its problem-plagued presidential caucus.

"Evidently, the rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated," Brian Colón said Saturday, when more than 180 party members gathered for a central committee meeting in Albuquerque.

Marvin Moss, a former Bernalillo County Democratic Party chairman, said he backed Colón, who has repeatedly accepted responsibility for the caucus problems.

"He did the right thing," Moss said. "He didn't pass the buck."


DPNM Executive Director Laura Sanchez Resigns

ALBUQUERQUE - An official of Gov. Bill Richardson's unsuccessful presidential campaign has been named interim director of the Democratic Party of New Mexico, party chair Brian Colón announced today.

Josh Geise, the Richardson campaign's Early States Political Director, was named to replace Laura Sanchez. A statement released by the party gave no reason for Sanchez's departure, the first among the party leadership since the widely criticized handling of the Feb. 5 Democratic caucus where final results took 10 days to tabulate.

This is the statement issue today by the party:

Democratic Party of New Mexico Chairman Brian Colón

Names New Executive Director

Albuquerque, NM - Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colón announced today that Laura E. Sanchez has resigned as Executive Director. Chairman Colón named Josh Geise as the Interim Executive Director.

"Laura did a tremendous job during my first year as Chairman as we embarked on an unprecedented listening tour around our State to reach out to Democrats in all corners of New Mexico," Colón said. "Laura's work ethic and dedication to the Democratic Party have never wavered and I wish her the best of luck in the future."

"As we move forward to November our singular focus is carrying New Mexico for our Democratic Presidential Nominee, electing Tom Udall to the US Senate and winning all three open congressional seats," Colón said. "This is a historic year in New Mexico and I'm excited to have Josh leading our staff at the Party as we move forward to November."

"I am excited to be returning to the Party in what is shaping up to be the most intense campaign cycle in New Mexico history," Geise said. "We have a lot of long days and nights ahead of us and with the leadership of Chairman Colón, I am confident November 4th is going to be a very good night for New Mexico Democrats.

Geise most recently worked on Governor Richardson's Presidential campaign as his Early States Political Director. Prior to that he served as the Coordinated Campaign Director for the Democratic Party of New Mexico in 2006.

Party to study caucus woes

Vote 2008: Party to study caucus woes - SantaFeNewMexican.com

State chairman aims to determine why voters rolls incomplete

State Democratic Party chairman Brian Colón said Monday that he will conduct a full investigation into complaints from Democrats who said they were incorrectly left off the voting rolls and couldn't cast regular ballots in the recent presidential caucus.

Following the Feb. 5 caucus, many voters and some Democratic volunteers who helped run polling places complained to newspapers and radio talk shows that their names weren't on voting lists.

"It has yet to be determined the root cause of the problem," Colón said in an interview Monday. "But we've got to look into it. It's got to be addressed before the June primary."

Voters who weren't on the official list were allowed to cast provisional ballots at the caucus. This contributed to the large number of provisional ballots — about 17,000 statewide — and their counting delayed for nine days the determination of who won the close race in New Mexico between U.S. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. Last week, Colón announced Clinton was the winner by about 1,700 votes.

ABQJOURNAL NEWS/STATE: Ideas Abound for Reforming NM Presidential Nominating Contest

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.''

ABQJOURNAL NEWS/STATE: NM Democrats Can't Say How Many Scrap Paper Ballots Were Cast

Link: ABQJOURNAL NEWS/STATE: NM Democrats Can't Say How Many Scrap Paper Ballots Were Cast.

   You've waited patiently in line to vote, only to be told your name can't be found on registration rolls. Worse, they've run out of ballots at your polling station.     What to do?     Just scribble your name on a scrap of paper, list your preferred candidate and sign an affidavit declaring you're a registered Democrat in New Mexico.     They're called handwritten ballots, and they were used — apparently in limited numbers — for the Democratic Party's presidential caucus.     An Associated Press survey of Democratic Party chairs in most of New Mexico's 33 counties confirmed reports that scrap-paper ballots were used in the Feb. 5 caucus after some polling sites ran out of ballots.     State Democratic chairman Brian Colon couldn't say exactly how many handwritten ballots were processed among the more than 17,000 provisionals reviewed during the nine-day count that ended Thursday with Hillary Clinton's victory.

KRQE -Democrats scrap-paper ballots count unknown

KRQE -Democrats scrap-paper ballots count unknown

Associated Press - February 15, 2008 5:25 PM ET

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Some people who showed up to last week's Democratic caucus ended up at polling places that had run out of ballots.

But officials at polling places in the Democratic Party caucus simply had those voters write their name on a plain piece of paper, list their preferred candidate and sign an affidavit declaring they were registered Democrats in the state of New Mexico.



Dem Chair Annonces Caucus Results

To see video of the Chairman's announcement, click here

7873071_BG5.jpgKRQE - Albuquerque, New Mexico - News, Video, Weather Forecast, Sports, Community, Health, Homes | KBIM - KREZ | Clinton squeaks by Obama to win N.M. caucusALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The dust of the Feb. 5 Democratic cause settled at last today with Sen. Hillary Clinton walking away with the most delegates and a slim 1 percent lead in the vote.

It was an extremely close race with most of the 149,779 people voting casting ballots for Clinton and runner-up Sen. Barack Obama. Here's how the numbersbreak down.

  • Hillary Clinton 73,105
  • Barack Obama 71,396
  • John Edwards 2,157
  • Bill Richardson 1,305
  • Dennis Kucinich 574
  • Joe Biden 122
  • Christopher Dodd 81


The difference between 1st and 2nd place--1,709 votes--was enough to award 14 New Mexico delegates to Clinton and 12 to Obama. While Clinton and Obama are the only candidates still in the race, the other five candidates remained on the ballot even though they had already dropped out.


Democrats apologized for the long delay in getting the count, but said many of the 17,000 provisional ballots cast by voters who had problems at polling places were unusual.


"Of those 17,000 votes thousands upon thousands of individuals participated in the Democratic Party of New Mexico caucus," state party chair Brian Colón said. "Unfortunately those thousands of people were registered Republican, Independent, Green, and we even had a couple of people participating from the Bull Moose Party."


Obama's campaign people are still concerned saying they are worried that the long lines may have disenfranchised voters. However they said they are willing to accept the numbers.


Santa Fe New Mexican: Letter to the Editor: Replace leadership

Replace leadership

I am a ward coordinator, state Central Committee delegate and caucus judge from Ward 47F. This caucus couldn't have been more mishandled, and I think we need to immediately replace leadership as they are the ones culpable. Not only did they not market the caucus that we Democrats paid $300,000 for, they ran out of ballots after telling us to our faces at training that we would not this time (they did in 2004 as well).

When they ported the registered Democratic voter list from the Secretary of State's office to Vote Builder to print our lists, hundreds of five-star voters were left off! Yes hundreds, maybe thousands, of people who had voted Democrat in many consecutive elections, and who came to me at my site, furious, for provisional ballots.

There are many questions to be answered. It took an astronomically long time to qualify these provisional ballots. Let's replace Brian Colón and Laura Sánchez with competent party people. This year could not be more crucial as we look to take one Senate seat and three congressional seats! We need to act confidently now to keep unity and support.

Thomas Chepucavage
Santa Fe