NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release: January 13, 2005
Contact: Rick Lass, NM Coordinator at 505.920.0540
Blair Bobier, Media Director at 541.929.5755
NM SECRETARY OF STATE GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO COUNTIES TO CLEAR VOTING MACHINES; COBB SAYS NM OFFICIALS ARE OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE
2004 Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb today accused New Mexico election officials of "deliberately obstructing justice" by giving counties the green light to clear electronic voting machines while a demand for a recount of New Mexico's controversial presidential vote is still pending.
New Mexico had the nation's highest percentage of under-votes for the presidential race. In addition, there are still many unanswered questions about provisional ballots, missing votes and the integrity of voting machines which don't produce a paper trail.
"The conduct of New Mexico's Governor and Secretary of State has gone from bad to worse. They have gone from showing a complete disregard for New Mexico law and for the integrity of the democratic process to deliberately obstructing justice. Clearing the electronic voting machines while a recount demand is pending will destroy critical evidence about what happened on Election Day. This is outrageous and makes you wonder what they are trying to hide," said Cobb.
The recount request by Cobb and Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik is now the subject of a lawsuit pending in the New Mexico Court of Appeals.
In a letter faxed today to the New Mexico Attorney General's office, an attorney representing the two presidential candidates objected to the voting machines being cleared and suggested that the Secretary of State was "shirking her responsibility to insure uniform application of the election laws" by allowing county clerks to decide on their own whether or not to clear the voting machines.
"Although, generally, voting machines can be cleared 30 days after the official certification of the vote, New Mexico law is clear that this can't happen when a recount has been initiated. With an appeal pending in the New Mexico court system, any adjustment to the machines at this time is clearly inappropriate and contrary to state law," said Lowell Finley, one of the attorneys representing the candidates.
Voting rights attorneys will file a request for a temporary restraining order tomorrow against the State Canvassing Board and county clerks seeking to prevent them from clearing voting machines.
The State Canvassing Board, consisting of the New Mexico's Governor, Secretary of State and Chief Justice, met tonight and formally rejected a proposal from Cobb and Badnarik for a partial recount of the presidential vote, which would have expedited the process, saved time and avoided any costs to taxpayers. Previously, the Secretary of State had unilaterally rejected this proposal though she lacked the authority to do so.
"New Mexico's Governor and Secretary of State are doing such a poor job of following state law that they're starting to make Ohio's Kenneth Blackwell look good by comparison," said Cobb-LaMarche Media Director Blair Bobier.
For more information about the Cobb-LaMarche campaign and its recount efforts in New Mexico and Ohio, see http://www.votecobb.org.
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