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Departments Election Issues Impossible Phantom Votes in New Mexico
In a recent Albuquerque Journal article (http://www.abqjournal.com/elex/278376elex12-24-04.htm) New Mexico Secretary of State and Canvassing Board member Rebecca Vigil-Giron is quoted as saying that phantom votes are not possible. She stressed that independent auditors had looked at the state's final canvass report and assured us that "they didn't find any irregularities like that." However, an examination of the canvass reports available at her website (http://www.sos.state.nm.us/Election/cntyindx04.html) shows that those auditors apparently missed quite a few. For example, Dona Ana County's Precinct 106, where107 absentee ballots somehow reported 325 presidential votes. Or Bernalillo Precinct 558 where in early voting the 178 ballots cast resulted in 319 presidential votes 141 phantoms. In fact, phantom votes were reported in 15 of the 33 counties. Phantoms are not new to New Mexico. In the 1996 canvass report we find 998 phantom votes in Chaves County - an astonishing rate of 5.57%. In 2000 in Dona Ana County, N.M. 5,509 absentee ballots somehow resulted in 6,456 votes. When Denise Lamb at the Secretary of State's office was asked to explain the 947 phantom votes, she blamed "administrative lapses." But wait a minute - no one would accept that sort of "lapse" on a monthly bank statement or a sales receipt from the 7-11. Why would anyone accept it in this, "the most important election of our lives" in which "every vote will count and every vote will be counted"? The presence of such impossible votes is bad enough, but then there's the insidious effect they have on undervote reporting. When calculating undervotes at the statewide level, each phantom vote that might appear at the precinct level cancels out an undervote and both of them disappear in the accumulated totals. The pesky nature of phantoms can be observed even more clearly by separating the precinct totals into early vote, election day and absentees voting types. For example, in Santa Fe County Precinct 43 there were10 phantom votes in early voting, and 25 undervotes on election day while absentee ballots produced two more undervotes. However, in the precinct totals these 27 undervotes and 10 phantom votes resolve into 17 undervotes, and the report shows no indication whatsoever of the phantom votes. A recent article (http://www.courierpress.com/ecp/news/article/0,1626,ECP_734_ 3425406,00.html) pointed out that New Mexico had the dubious honor of leading the nation in undervoting with a statewide rate of 2.45%. Of course, that figure was determined by simply taking the difference between the statewide totals of ballots cast and presidential votes. The 2,087 phantom votes 'disappeared' and hid an equal number of undervotes at the same time. Surely New Mexico would have left the other states in the dust if they had calculated the phantoms right. But then how many phantoms do you suppose there are lurking in the canvass reports of the other 49 states? It seems that such questions are of little concern to Secretary of State Vigil-Giron who recently commented that "We don't spend a lot of time on undervote issues, I'm just speculating that some voters are just not concerned with the presidential race." Whether or not you find it easy to believe that more than 1 voter in every 40 decided not to vote for president this November, it hardly helps to know that, in the same election, over 2,000 votes somehow managed to be counted without a ballot being cast. A report prepared by Ellen Theisen and Warren Stewart in support of the Green/Libertarian New Mexico recount effort along with a comprehensive database on the 2004 New Mexico election can be downloaded at http://www.votersunite.org/info/newmexicophantomvotes.asp. -- Warren Stewart is a musician and activist living in the San Francisco Bay Area. |
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Recent Election Issues Articles Ohio's official non-recount ends amidst new evidence of fraud, theft and judicial contempt mirrored in New Mexico Impossible Phantom Votes in New Mexico
The 2004 Presidential Election: Who Won The Popular Vote? An Examination of the Comparative Validity of Exit Poll and Vote Count Data Ohio GOP election officials ducking notices of deposition as Kerry enters stolen vote fray Another third rate burglary Hacking the vote in Miami County Update from the Ohio Frontlines Lawsuit Before the Ohio Supreme Court Kerry votes switched to Bush and ballots pre-punched for Bush Uncounted votes in Cuyahoga County Provisional ballots in Cuyahoga County Uncounted votes in Summit County Uncounted votes in Hamilton County Default settings in Mahoning County Ohio electoral fight becomes 'biggest deal since Selma' as GOP stonewalls Observations from an election observer TV Networks Officially Refuse to Release Exit Poll Raw Data; Mainstream media finally displays true colors Election results in Southwestern Ohio Voting Rights Groups 'Block' Talk of Machine-Free Elections Statistics from Warren County The greatest story never told The United States of Ukraine?: Exit Polls Leave Little Doubt that in a Free and Fair Election John Kerry Would Have Won both the Electoral College and the Popular Vote Certifiable election results Sinclair Broadcasting's Long History of Journalistic and Corporate Deception Ohio vote count battles escalate amidst new evidence of potential criminal activity American democracy hangs by a thread in Ohio Startling new revelations highlight rare Congressional hearings on Ohio vote New Ohio voter transcripts The One-Two Punch of Racism: Whitewashing the Voter Fraud Issue Rigging the vote in Lucas County
Uncounted votes in Montgomery County Why history demands an Ohio revote Ohio election fraud uproar blasting to new level Dirty work at the Philly polls Voter Suppression: STEALING VOTES IN OHIO URBAN AREAS (full documentation) In Ohio 2004, it's the People versus the Party of Hate & Terror and the Party of Duck and Run...but will the Democrats now stand and fight? Warren County, Ohio: most successful voter registration drive in American political history, or stuffing the ballot box Jesse Jackson demands Ohio presidential recount, blasts GOP election officials, and says Kerry supports the process Kerry Supports Ohio Vote Investigation, Jackson says Hope for the Homestretch Favoritism in the suburbs New Ohio voter transcripts feed floodtide of doubt about Republican election manipulation Election officials gave wrong information about provisional ballots - revealed in affidavit. US tells Ukraine to recount votes on fradulent election! Not counting the votes Stealing votes in Columbus Making every vote count How a Republican election supervisor manipulated the 2004 central Ohio vote, in black and white More Ohio voter suppression testimony prompts upcoming legal filing for statewide recount Ohio Presidential Results to be Challenged Franklin County, Ohio voting machine assignments, and other information Coalition's Support of Voting Machines Causes Confusion
Hearings on Ohio voting put 2004 election in doubt Closing the Circle: The Corporatization of Elections Subordinating nation's secular values to zealots' will The Public Hearings and Rally About Election Fraud in Columbus, OH this weekend, Sat. 11/13-Please pass widely! Slip-sliding away in Columbus Green and Libertarian Presidential Candidates to Demand Ohio Recount An End To Mourning November 3rd action The Bible, The Constitution, and the James Carville Experiment Basic report from Columbus Waiting to vote Confessions of a political Know-Nothing in the wake of the 2004 elections Let the spin begin Back Stabbers Cost Kerry in Ohio! The Last Battle Republican America! Republican Forever! Is there inner-city election suppression in Franklin County, Ohio? Michael Moore in Columbus No love in the Heartland: Kerry gets mocked in Pa. school election Ten reasons for Greens to vote for Kerry Twelve ways Bush is now stealing the Ohio vote GW Bush Before the Iraq War
MISOGYNY Foreign Policy Forecast: If Bush Wins | If Kerry Wins Hope for the homestretch FactCheck.org says Cheney got it wrong Do the Hokey Pokey Hope for the homestretch Addressing Republican issues with John Kerry Gallup Polls- Conditioning for Vote Rigging? Too Many Cameras and Not Enough Truth: John Kerry Dodges the Press Nader 2000 Leaders United To Defeat Bush Shut up and color: the politics of bullying Kerry, Nader and the Greens need to kill the circular firing squad Don’t Believe the Hype; Terrorist Warnings Just Another Way Bush Will Steal Election President of Greater Stark County AFL-CIO speaks out on Bush’s visit in Canton, Ohio I'll Follow Kucinich to Kerry, Sorry Ralph Badnarik Doubles in Recent National Poll ‘A green world is possible’ planned in New York City during the Republican National Convention An open letter to progressives: vote Kerry and Cobb A street fighting man? How Kucinich can win Scary, Scary John Kerry With all deliberate stupidity: US self-isolation makes Iraq a virtual non-issue in the elections so far To support or not to support; the Nader question Halliburton, VP Cheney's Former Company Faces Second Criminal Probe In Four Years The Lone Ranger of Righteousness The Wrong Side of History High Noon in America The Truth is Out: Kucinich is the choice of progressives Dean and Kucinich Bush Should Be Facing 'A Long, Hard Slog' On The Campaign Trail, But Dems Too Busy Fighting With Each Other Read Election Issues Articles by Year: |
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