NewMexicoMatters.com

Federal Auditors Seek Election Spending Records

Federal auditors seek election spending records

By Steve Terrell

The Secretary of State's Office has assigned a ``special projects coordinator'' to aid federal auditors looking into expenditures by former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron.

James Flores, spokesman for Secretary of State Mary Herrera, said auditors from the Federal Election Assistance Commission, who were in Santa Fe looking through files last month, found that several reports required from the secretary last year were either missing or incomplete.

``We're researching past records attempting to find these documents and reports,'' Flores said.

He expects the federal auditors to return in about a week.

A spokeswoman for the federal agency said Tuesday she couldn't comment on an ongoing audit. A state Department of Finance and Administration audit also is still ongoing, spokeswoman Stephanie Lenhart confirmed.

Last month, Gov. Bill Richardson put on hold his hiring of Vigil-Giron as director of the state Film Museum in Santa Fe until the audit requested by Herrera is complete.  Continue Reading

Technorati Tags: Battleground, budget, Democrats, Elections, electronicvoting, HAVA, newmexico, Politics, RebeccaVigilGiron, voting

New BernCo Clerk Calls for Election Evaluation

Press Release:
 

MAGGIE TOULOUSE
COUNTY CLERK
ONE CIVIC PLAZA, N.W. - 6TH FLOOR
ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO 87102
(505) 468-1290 FAX (505) 768-4151
 

 

2006 General Election Evaluation
PUBLIC INPUT NEEDED
 

What did you think of last November’s General Election?
 
As part of an on-going effort to ensure accuracy, fairness, integrity and efficiency in our election process, County Clerk Maggie Toulouse will be hosting the following opportunities for the public to provide input and feedback:

PUBLIC FORUM

Party Activists and individuals (poll workers, challengers, watchers etc.) who were involved in the General Election are invited to share their experiences, concerns and suggestions in a panel forum environment.  Members of the panel will include the County Clerk, Deputy Clerk and Bureau of Elections staff.  Comments will be recorded and compiled into a working list that will be considered when planning for future elections.
 
SATURDAY APRIL 21, 2007
10:00am – 12:00pm
Bernalillo County Commission/City Council Chambers
One Civic Plaza, NW – Basement
 
STAKEHOLDER MEETINGS

 
Meetings will be organized with representatives from Party Organizations, Candidate Committees, and Voter Advocacy Organizations to explore experiences, concerns and suggestions in detail.  Specific action plans will be developed to meet the needs of stakeholders.

APRIL 1 – APRIL 30
Meetings will be organized and scheduled upon confirmation with organizations
 
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD

 
The County Clerk accepts comments from the public year round; however this period will be a concerted effort to gather as much input from the public at large as possible.  Opportunities will be available via regular mail, email, and fax.
 
APRIL 1 – APRIL 30
Mail comments to:
Election Process Review
County Clerk
One Civic Plaza NW, 6th Floor
Albuquerque, NM 87102
 
Email comments to:
[email protected]

Fax comments to:
(505) 768-4151
 
All information

ABQjournal: Inquiry Targets Vigil-Giron

ABQjournal: Inquiry Targets Vigil-Giron:
Inquiry Targets Vigil-Giron
By Trip Jennings
Journal Capitol Bureau
Gov. Bill Richardson put the brakes on a new state job for former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron on Friday, pending a financial review at her old agency.
She was scheduled to start an $85,000-a-year job running the New Mexico Film Museum on Monday.
Vigil-Giron, who served until the end of last year as the state's chief election official, accepted the development, which came after days of controversy.

Technorati Tags: 2006, Bill Richardson, Elections, newmexico, news, Politics, richardson

More Vote Count Concerns: Los Alamos County Canvass Errors

Here is another example of a differing vote counts.

According to the Los Alamos County Canvass Signature Roster Summary (pg. 8),  5,421 individuals cast votes in the 2006 election,

(pdf download)

But according to The Statewide Canvas, the number of votes was actually 8,783 Total Voters for Los Alamos County. 

(pdf download).

Technorati Tags: 2006, corruption, Democrats, HAVA, newmexico, NM, Politics, Voting

New Accuracy Standards For Elections Returns--SB179

This letter to the Editor appeared in yesterday's Santa Fe New Mexican from Robert Stearns and Paul Stokes, of United Voters New Mexico regarding SB 179 a bill that would establish new standards in voting accuracy for New Mexico.

Each vote counts

Thanks to the vision of the Legislature and the governor, New Mexico is now a leader among states in the trustworthiness of its voting system -- voter-marked paper ballots counted by optical scan machines. What validates voter confidence is that the paper ballots are preserved for checking machine accuracy, and for ready recounting when tallying mistakes are suspected. But to match our new paper-ballot-based voting system, the mandatory random audit of election results in the current law now needs strengthening. SB179, introduced by state Sen. Cisco McSorley (D-Albuquerque), would institute a procedure ensuring that the random selection of optical scanning machines to be audited would provide a very high statistical probability of catching any faulty machines. This issue directly affects our citizen's right to election result accuracy, both as voters and as candidates. SB179 merits all-out support. 


Robert Stearns and Paul Stokes



Santa Fe

Technorati Tags: 2006, Bernalillo, Democrats, Elections, GOP, HAVA, newmexico, NM, Politics, reform, Voting

Voting Machine Vendor Forgot He Had Sold System Blamed for Election Day Breakdown

DenverPost.com - City asked for pollbook software:

Records exchanged between Sequoia Voting Systems and the Denver Election Commission show the commission asked for Web-based software that could be used to check in voters on Election Day.

Those documents appear to refute testimony from a Sequoia representative who Wednesday told a panel investigating Election Day delays that he was unaware Denver was using Sequoia's software as a so-called "electronic pollbook."

Experts who examined Denver's technology faulted the Sequoia-designed software for crashing Denver's voter check-in system, leading to lines as long as three hours at some vote centers. Officials estimate that more than 20,000 people didn't vote because of the delays.

But Sequoia vice president Howard Cramer told the mayor's panel he was surprised to learn Denver was using the company's technology as an "e-pollbook" to check in voters at the polls.

"The first time I heard about it was on election night," Cramer told the panel, which was appointed by Mayor John Hickenlooper.

On Thursday, Sequoia spokeswoman Michelle Shafer said Cramer's statements may have been misconstrued.
"Howard (Cramer) certainly knew that we had a product that was being used in Denver, however, that has never been marketed as an electronic pollbook," she said. "That is not what we provided."

But documents released Thursday show the Election Commission specifically asked for that kind of technology as early as mid- January, about 10 months before Election Day.

Security Of Electronic Voting Is Condemned--Washington Post

Security Of Electronic Voting Is Condemned - washingtonpost.com:

Paperless electronic voting machines used throughout the Washington region and much of the country "cannot be made secure," according to draft recommendations issued this week by a federal agency that advises the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

The assessment by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, one of the government's premier research centers, is the most sweeping condemnation of such voting systems by a federal agency.