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Paper Ballot Victory In New Mexico |
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By Warren Stewart, VoteTrustUSA
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February 17, 2006 |
In a the last hours of the New Mexico legislature’s 30-day session, lawmakers approved a measure establishing a statewide paper ballot optical scan voting system. The move to paper ballots had been promoted by Governor Bill Richardson and had the support of Attorney General Patricia Madrid and Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron. The legislature also a capital improvement package that provides $11 million to pay for the equipment needed to switch to the paper ballots. The text of the final legislation can be viewed here.
The legislation is a victory for citizen activists and organizations like Verified Voting New Mexico and United Voters of New Mexico that have been working tirelessly for an auditable voting system in New Mexico. Detailed analysis of the certified election data from the New Mexico General Election in 2004 revealed alarming irregularities that focused nationwide attention on the state. New Mexico has led the nation in presidential undervote rate for several election cycles (2.87% in 2004), and research revealed that 82% of the undervotes occurred on paperless electronic voting machines. At the same time, the presence of 2,087 presidential “phantom votes” (situations in which more votes were counted than ballots cast) revealed a chaotic and under-resourced certification process.
The state’s canvassing board succeeded in thwarting a recount request by the Green and Libertarian Parties, but a lawsuit that grew out of the recount effort resulted in significant revelations about the conduct of elections in the state. Public concern about election anomalies also contributed to the passage of an omnibus election bill that included a requirement for a voter verified paper record of every vote and a random mandatory audit in the 2005 legislative session.
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