New Mexico to Start Counting Provisional Ballots

By Jeralyn, Section Elections 2008
Posted on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 01:37:00 AM EST
Tags: Tsunami Tuesday (all tags)

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Election results are so close in New Mexico that tomorrow morning, officials will begin hand-counting 17,000 provisional ballots.

Provisional ballots are given to voters who show up to the wrong site, whose names are not on registered voter lists provided by the state or who requested an absentee ballot but signed an affidavit saying they did not return it.

As of tonight, with one precinct left, Hillary Clinton is leading Barack Obama by 1,000 votes.

With 183 of 184 of precincts reporting, Hillary Rodham Clinton held a lead of 1,092 votes — 67,921 votes compared to 66,829 for Barack Obama, according to preliminary results posted on the state Democratic Party's Web site.

Officials from both campaigns will be present for the count, but the news media is excluded.

At stake for Hillary and Obama: dividing up New Mexico's 26 committed delegates. There are also 12 superdelegates who can vote how they want once they get to the convention in Denver.

With the race this close, it looks like a split of 26 delegates, whoever wins. I guess the rest is about bragging rights.

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New Mexico to Start Counting Provisional Ballots | 9 comments (9 topical)

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The lA thing sound ridiculous (5.00 / 0) (#4)
by Stellaaa on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 12:52:05 AM EST

I don't think we had any other partisan votes, it was only the president. But those indie voters, I guess never voted before.

could we possibly (none / 0) (#1)
by cpinva on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 12:01:57 AM EST

stretch this out any longer? lol

: Probably. Isn't L.A. County also (none / 0) (#2)
by oculus on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 12:10:34 AM EST

looking at those double bubble ballots?

1-delegate swing (none / 0) (#3)
by DaveOinSF on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 12:28:41 AM EST

If Hillary wins New Mexico, the delegates will split 14-12 for her; if Obama wins New Mexice, it will be a 13-13 tie.

Hillary won CD 2 and Obama on CD 1 and 3. CD 1 and 3 had an even number of delegates (6) and the result was close enough that the delegates will split 3-3. If Hillary does really well in the provisionals, she could take over the lead in either CD1 (1700 votes behind) or CD2 (2500 votes behind) but that won't matter in splitting the delegates. CD2, however, has an odd number of delegates (5) and so Hillary's win gives her a 3-2 advantage. Her lead is pretty safe - more than 5000 votes. So, district-wide, Hillary has a 9-8 delegate advantage.

Statewide, the remaining 9 delegates are split into two separate pots - a pot of 6 which, as an even number, will split 3-3, and a pot of 3.

The fight over New Mexico is whether that pot of 3 delegates will split 2-1 for Hillary or 2-1 for Obama. Thus, it will be either 14-12 for Hillary or a 13-13 tie.

ok, (none / 0) (#5)
by cpinva on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 01:09:21 AM EST

i'm sorry i asked!


Thank you (none / 0) (#6)
by Kathy on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 08:02:23 AM EST

I love these breakdowns.

And I am so glad they are leaving the press out of the count. I never wanna see another count again after Florida.

Any idea how the NH count shook down? Lots of conspiracy theories and charges of fraud were flying around. It was news story #1 on a few sites for a while, and now it seems to have disappeared.

Which tells me that they were wrong.


The idea was to bring out (none / 0) (#7)
by TeresaInSnow2 on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 08:56:55 AM EST

the perception of election theft. It was a smear tactic, nothing more.

Edwards definitely wasn't screaming recount.


: I think they chose (none / 0) (#8)
by Kathy on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 09:04:12 AM EST

the wrong messenger for that.
I am very nervous about Obama's statements re: superdelegates. They are part of the democratic process. They are the foundation of the party. Their vote is part of who we are. To deny the process and make veiled threats is very, very troubling to me.

You last observation is incorrect (none / 0) (#9)
by Big Tent Democrat on Thu Feb 07, 2008 at 09:42:24 AM EST

If Hillary wins the popular vote, she will have 14 delegates to Obama's 12.

If Obama wins the popular vote, there will be a 13-13 split.

There is a 2 delegate swing involved here.