Long lines have been a problem this year at a number of early voting sites including the UNM site.
The University of New Mexico and the Northeast Heights locations — especially Integrity Plaza on Wyoming and Market Center on Lomas — have been the busiest. The South Valley and Downtown locations have been the lightest.Understand we want everyone to have an opportunity to vote... ONCE. What we're concerned about is what appears to be the special accommodations being made for one candidate for office over another. To date the County Clerk has made no attempt to expand voting sites around the city to handle this year's heavy turnout. However, when an Obama rally comes to UNM's Johnson Field presumably drawing with it a large crowd of The One Named O's supporters - the clerk expands the size and hours of operation at the last minute of a polling site that's next door to the rally.
From our understanding of the law, Toulouse-Oliver has the discretion to increase the size of a polling place as long as it is not moved. However, state law explicitly determines the times of operation.
NMSA 1-6-5.7(A) Early voting may be done at an alternate location from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Tuesday through Friday, and 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday through the Saturday immediately prior to the election.By law, Toulouse-Oliver cannot extend the hours - or for that matter change them in any way.
The peaceful transition of power from one elected official to another - from one party to another - requires the public's faith in the accuracy of the tabulation and their ability to cast a vote and have it counted. To that end, even the appearance of partiality poisons the public's faith that the outcome of an election is based on the collective will of the people.
There's no way that an objective person can look at the last minute changes being made by the clerk to one polling site and believe that these changes are not politically motivated. Consistency breeds confidence and Toulouse-Oliver's actions are anything but.
We suspect that there has been pressure brought to bear on Toulouse-Oliver to make these special accommodations. After all, she's a Democrat whose husband works for the Governor who just so happens to have endorsed Obama. However, voters expect a clerk to act in a consistently and without regard to their party affiliation.
In short... The Bernalillo County Clerk should not be making changes to the times, place, or size of polling places based on the appearance schedules of either one of the candidates for President or their campaign schedule. Making O-commodations undermines the integrity of the election process by poisoning the faith that voters have in the process - a faith that has taken nearly 250 years to build.
----- Update -----
Our Eyes tell us that the Republican Party of New Mexico has agreed to the extension of hours and the expansion in the UNM polling site as long as all of the early voting sites have similarly expanded hours.
First and most importantly, the RPNM does not have the authority to allow the county clerk to violate the law. And while they may be patting themselves on the back for cutting a good deal, most voters won't know about the expanded voting hours and therefore their "good deal" will be worth very little to them.
Folks, we have laws for a reason. It's unconscionable that the clerk and the RPNM are colluding to violate the law for what they both see as a benefit - real or not.
30 comments:
Good for you Maggie! Don't let this site get you down. It's all APD all the time what are they talking about you for? Hope to see you move onward and upward one day, maybe Mayor of Albuquerque one day.
This election is nothing more than a media controlled event anyways. What chance does anyone have against Obama with the one sided media coverage of the election. The Albuquerque Journal prints every anti-McCain letter that comes in, but fails to print the anti-Obama letters... Watch Good Morning America lately? Robin Roberts almost looks like a school girl with a crush on Obama when she interviews him. Diane sawyer can't help but make a sarcastic comment after any story they do on McCain or Palin.
Did you catch the view when they had McCain?? Barabara and Joy would not even look at McCain... Even if you don't feel the guy should not be President, he deserves respect for what he has done for our country. Anyone who has served our country and especially someone who was a POW at least deserves direct eye contact and a level playing field.
I am not a fan of any politician, but it scares the crap out of me when the news media keeps showing the early voting site at UNM and I see kids with Skate boards waiting to vote. Kids who have no life experience buying into the mass media coverage of the election... I would like to see just how many of those young people could give you a valid reason for their vote (and saying that Bush's last 8 years was really screwed up, is not a valid answer...) Bush did not do it alone, he had help from a Democratic controlled Congress. The entire system needs to be changed and that means getting rid of the people on both sides of the fence that put lining their pockets first and the American Tax payer second...
With the current system, we vote for the best liar who can sell us that ocean front property in Arizona. As tax payers, we need to send a message to whom ever is elected and let them know that we are tired of special interest groups getting the nod over us. I can't tell you who will make the better President at this point, but I do know that the more we speak up, the more our Reps. have no choice but to listen to us... I don't have the answer and if i did, I would not be stuck here in New Mexico....But I do know the the loudest spoke in the wheel gets oiled first....
The only reason the "Eye" is complaining is that they know the Dems outnumber the Repubs in NM by 10's of thousands. The longer the polls are open the more opportunity for the people to get out & vote. The bigger the turn out the worse it gets for the Bushies like McSame, Daren, Steve and all the other Repubs wanting to carry on a 3rd term for the village idiot.
Like I said in the first post good for you Maggie for makeing the voteing process much quicker. I myself do not want to wait in long lines to do my civic duty. As to the hint of possible wrongdoing or slanting for Obama ( there is not) maybe if the Republicans would have done what they did in 00' and NOT put McCain on the GOP ticket you wouldn't see the swift and thorough ass kicking McCain is receiving. 8 years of absolute horrible leadership, coupled with the economy.....? It's called accountability! Try again in 4 years.
Turnout was triple the expected, and lines were long, especially in the Heights, which is usually Rep. territory. Here are the details from the County Clerk's website.
"10/23/2008
Clerk Expands Early Voting Site Hours To Accommodate Voters"
"Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver will expand the operating hours at all 16 Early Voting Site locations. The Clerk’s Annex located at 620 Lomas Boulevard, NW will continue to be open from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday but will also be open on Saturday from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.
The additional sites will expand hours from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm on Tuesday through Friday.
“There has been a heavy turnout of registered voters at the Early Voting Sites over the last several days,” says Clerk Toulouse Oliver. “This measure will allow us to accommodate more voters more efficiently and I would like to thank Secretary of State Mary Herrera for working with us to expand the hours.”
Early Voting is available through Saturday, November 1, 2008."
http://www.bernco.gov/live/news.asp?news=191394
Here's the new schedule:
http://www.bernco.gov//upload/images/clerk/general_08/election_info/EVInfo_ExtendedHours.pdf
Ummm....Lemme think a moment here. This is New Mexico, right? Our State motto should be "The Land of Voter Fraud", what with all the boxes of votes suddenly discovered in the wee hours of the morning on the Wednesday's following most elections. What about the primaries where it took the better part of 2 weeks for them to gin up the appropriate number of votes to have the Chosen One take it. Early voting is merely a scam to find out how many votes they have to fabricate in order for the desired outcome to be.
To Lemme think a moment here. Yes, this is New Mexico. No, the State motto is not "The Land of Voter Fraud". Yes, New Mexico is notorious for election problems. Early voting is the best thing to happen to the election process, even George Bush early voted this year! With all that you cited in your post Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse-Oliver appreciates your support in her efforts to make the election process painless
do whatever it takes to win the election! legal or not! way to go maggie! u should be the chief of police!
In sports theres those people who always say "its the refs fault we lost". The rightys are panicing. haha
"Its the refs fault we lost".
Here is another one "WE" didn't lose "WE" just didn't get as many votes as the other guy.
That to the poster that posted about Maggie Toulouse-Oliver "do whatever it takes to win the election". You my friend need to take a nap, because you are obviously sleep deprived or are you really that F'ing stupid?
Maggie will win hands down by a wide margin across both Republican, and Democratic voters.
After the 00' election you really want to talk about winning a(n) election by any means necessary?
P.S. You'll get over it, after all you will have 4 years to figure out what went wrong for your party.
Hmmm. Maybe the extra voting booths were necessary because while McCain attracted 1,000 people INSIDE the Spanish Village, Obama attracted 45,000 people INSIDE AND OUTSIDE Johnson Field. Do the math.
The truth be known .... New Mexico will still be counting ballots weeks from November 4 while the rest of the country sits and waits. The rest of the United States will probably have an accurate count of votes on November 5. Your tax dollars at work!
Now you lefties will have it all: a democrat in the White House and a Democratic Congress--absolutely no checks and balances. the media has seen to it that McCain can't win so PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD FOLKS, at least vote Republican for your Congress!!! We still need to maintain checks and balances otherwise...if you think healh care is expensive now, just wait until it's free!! YIKES!!!
Since this is a blog site, we all know that it does not need to be fair and balanced in it's coverage or "investigations", (if you could call them that). In a totally non-biased way, I was part of the media that was at both the McCain rally and the Obama rally. Roughly 1500 people attended the McCain rally, and roughly 35,000 people attended the Obama rally. Regardless of indiviual politics, the numbers are black and white and that has nothing to do with the media.
is this before or after obama declared he wants to change the flag.. be fore or after he chose to remove the american flag from his plane and replace it with his face...
But it was the media that got the 35,000 to the Obama gig. It isn't about putting the black man on TV all the time, but rather sensationalizing the world we live in for better viewership. Yes, there is a war going on. Is it the first one ever? No, but it is one of the first ones that everyone can see what a war is really like thanks to reporters on the front line. Bush was president when Enron crashed, but Clinton was president when the pieces were put into place for the fall. CNN keeps putting all the names of the 10 most wanted people for the current economical hardships, and although I haven't seen them all, 3 out of the 4 I saw were traced back to Clinton years or a democrat. It's hard to find a media outlet that takes the time to fully discuss the issue. They have a right to free speech, just like all uf us, but we have the responsibility to find out the truth to make decisions for ourselves. Go vote for the candidate who can run a country, not because he looks good on TV or is more popular with your friends, but one who will keep us safe from the jealous world who wants the happiness we have. What will McCain or Obama do if we are attacked again? My guess one will fight back overly aggressively and the other will walk around with a kick me sign on his back. Decide for yourself. Good luck America.
Yeah -- Stalin drew big crowds too.
....it's not like McCain has a flag on his plane...
No worries, all those skate-boarding liberal UNM "it's all about me" lefties talk big about Obama, but when voting day comes they'll be no where to be found--I know, I have kids that fit into this category and I can't count on them for anything, much less voting--they just don't REALLY care that much.
not only does mccain have one, he wears one and is proud of the country.
what experience does obama have? seriously?
Republicans are very funny. Ill give them that....
Whats on a plane or on a lapel does not make a person "more qualified" than another. Dont think your changing anyones minds by those desperate comments.The man that has drug this country down for eight years is to blame for the USA's ills as well as the people who voted for him. Being strong enough to demand change for the better and stand up to the status quo the Repubs. force feed this country is as Patriotic as it gets. Im a Veteran and have fought for freedom,and for country and many of my fellow Vets think like I do and are voting for Obama dispite your immature notions and comments.
My eyes played a trick on me just yesterday! I glanced at my neighbor's "OBAMA BIDEN" sign in their yard, and I thought I saw it as: O(S)AMA BI(N)(LA)DEN! It reaffirmed my decision to vote for McCain!
Hey, "My eyes played a trick on me.."
You should go to the eye doctor and get your eyes checked it sounds like you might have problem with your eye sight....?
Yet under the current health insurance plan you probably can't be seen for 45 days or more.
You should be really careful with your poor eyesight or better yet just stay off all of our roads until you get that problem fixed it sounds like your eyes make you unfit to be on the roads all together!
Have someone who loves you read the results of the election to you on Wednesday November 5th. It will read/sound along the lines of THE NEW PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IS BARACK OBAMA!
I want to know if Obama had to pay UNM for the use of Johnson field?
As an emergency medical worker we were trying to get a critically ill patient to UNMH and the Obama escort held us up. We got to watch what was a very synconized beautiful event while we also watched our patient go down hill.
Did anyone think about the hospital when they planned the route Obama would be taking? UNMH is the trauma center for the entire state.
We got the patient to the hospital alive but they died in the ER. Every second counts with a critical pt. And they may have died anyway, but who knows. Also think about how we felt and how that affected us as health care providers. I was an undecided voter, but now I know I won't be voting for Obama. My mental health won't allow me.
Think the family of the deceased should know and sue UNM, whoever came up with the escort route and the Obama campaign?
These politicians can't see outside their narcissistic box. What if it were their family member? Oh I'm sure I would hear about that, probably even be blamed for it.
Bush is yours. Anyone? Hello? Repubs.? You there? Bush...
Hi!! I responded to you, calm down....WTF "Bush is yours", what does that mean, anyway? Bush is actually nobody's.....he's a lame duck on the way out (finally). I'm a democrat voting for the better candidate, which is McCain.... Bye now....
Good luck with that "Democrat".
I'm a dem also and was undecided until a couple of days ago. I think McCain made a bad VP choice, but I'm tired of giving my hard earned money to all of the lazy asses getting public assistance. And I have 1st hand experience in dealing with people that think the "government" us owes them a living.
People with the jobs paying taxes are what these lazy asses don't realize are giving them their free ride. Or they just don't care.
So many able bodied people on disability. Oh, they can't sit for too long, or their back hurts... and they get doctors to sign off for them!
Anybody who's going to vote for Obama should go over to the social services office on Cutler west of Washington and hang out for a couple of hours.
You'll see people drive up, park in handicap, get out of their car and walk to the trunk, open it, pull out a walker and hobble into the office. It will make you sick and make you change your mind before tomorrow, if you haven't voted already. Which is a stupid thing to do in the first place. Never know what can happen at the 11th hour.
I want to appologize. I got the Albuquerque Journal headline wrong. I says "Historic Day In America" with Obama waiving happily! Oooh well different heading same result. I TOLD YOU SO. See ya' Repub cry babies in 4 years.
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