As Voters Pass Judgment, Many Confront Technical Bugs - New York Times
With control of Congress hanging on a handful of races, voters streamed to the polls today in a midterm election that many people have viewed as a popular referendum on President Bush and the war in Iraq, but there were a variety of voting problems scattered across the country.
Election Data Services, a Washington-based consulting firm, said the chaos of the presidential election of 2000 and the enactment two years later of the Help America Vote Act had led to the biggest shift in voting equipment in United States history, affecting perhaps 55 million voters in today’s election. And changes were most common in smaller jurisdictions, which are often short of resources to correct election-day errors.
ABQJOURNAL: Switch To Paper Ballots Gets Off To A Rocky Start
New Mexico's switch to paper ballots is off to a rocky start.
In Bernalillo County, election workers ran out of paper ballots in at least two precincts about two hours after polls opened this morning.
Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., locked in a tight race for re-election against Attorney General Patricia Madrid, blasted County Clerk Mary Herrera after a precinct in a voting site near Tramway and Paseo NE ran out of ballots by 9 a.m.
Wilson claimed only 150 ballots were delivered to the precinct, which she said she won in the last election with 67 percent of the vote.
ABQjournal: Navajo Ballot Translations Can Be Tricky
In the northwestern corner of the state, the phrase used by some Navajos to refer to the Green Party is the color of "the stuff-that-sits-on-top-of-rocks-in-a-stream planning group."
Trying to interpret certain English words into Navajo can be tricky, said Zane James, Native American election coordinator for the Secretary of State's Office.
"You sometimes beat yourself up crazy about it, trying to find a proper interpretation everyone can understand," he said.
For the first time, New Mexico is providing voters with a translation of the ballot into Navajo through what's called a "voter assist terminal." Voters can go to the polls, put on a set of headphones, and James' voice will guide them through the ballot as they mark off their choices.
More than 205,000 New Mexicans voted before Election Day
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - More than 205,000 New Mexicans have already cast their ballots, taking advantage of absentee balloting and early voting locations to get the jump on Election Day.
That's about a fifth of the state's 1 million-plus registered voters.
The state's 33 counties switched to paper ballots after the primary, replacing a patchwork of various voting machines around the state.
The new paper ballot system, in use for the first time in the general election, requires voters to mark ballots by hand, then feed them into electronic tabulating machines. The impetus behind the change was to have a verifiable paper trail.
But San Juan County Clerk Fran Hanhardt said voters in her northwestern New Mexico county weren't happy with the change.
"Most of the feedback we got from the voters was, 'Why have we taken this giant step backward?' Most of the voters, even the elderly, liked the touch screen voting machines (used previously)," she said. "I don't believe I got one favorable comment on the paper ballots at our early voting sites."
1:58 pm: AG's race was big-spending, hard-hitting
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - A big-spending, hard-hitting race for state attorney general pitted a political veteran against a newcomer whose party _ the GOP _ dug deep into its pockets.
Democrat Gary King, an ex-lawmaker, and Republican Jim Bibb, a former state and federal prosecutor, each spent more than $1 million in the runup to Tuesday's general election.
The men were vying to succeed Democratic Attorney General Patricia Madrid, who is winding up her second term and couldn't run for the office again.
King, a former congressional candidate and the son of New Mexico's longest-serving governor _ three-term Bruce King _ started with a huge name-recognition advantage. But Bibb's aggressive fundraising and campaigning narrowed King's lead in the final days.
King, 52 _ who has been a lawyer for 23 years, spent a dozen of those in the state House of Representatives, and has advised federal agencies _ told voters his broad experience is just what's required of an attorney general.
3:15 pm: Dems firm grasp on State House likely to continue
ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - Democrats appeared likely to keep their firm grasp on the state House of Representatives after Tuesday's voting.
They outnumbered Republicans 42-28 going in to the general election, and that margin wasn't expected to change substantially.
Continuing Democratic domination of the Legislature _ the party controls the Senate, too _ would be a plus for Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, who plans to push an ambitious agenda again in the 2007 legislative session.
No state Senate seats are on the ballot this year.
More than half of the House's 70 members coasted to re-election, with no opposition. But 23 lawmakers had challengers. Among them:
_Republican Whip Terry Marquardt of Alamogordo, facing Democrat Nathan Cote.
_Democrat Tom Swisstack of Rio Rancho _ who first won the seat in 2002 by just three votes _ challenged by another ex-mayor of the city, Republican Jim Owen.
_Democrat Don Whitaker of Eunice, chairman of the influential House Taxation and Revenue Committee, facing Republican Shirley Tyler.
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