EDITORIAL: Vigilance needed in intensely polarized election

Albuquerque Tribune   23 October 2004

Just 10 wild days remain until Election Day - way too long, considering the mud being slung incessantly by candidates, parties and interest groups.

Then again, perhaps the time is way too short to ensure that voting and vote-counting in New Mexico and Bernalillo County go smoothly.

Some of the signs are ominous.

Because of the squeaky-tight presidential race, New Mexico and, in particular, Bernalillo County, could become part of a national Election Day snafu that may include delays in reporting vote results.

New Mexico and its county officials must do all they can between now and Nov. 2 to improve the uneasy odds that Election Day voting and vote-counting here do not become the last, chaotic chapter in this intensely polarized political showdown.

Citizens here and across the country are entitled at the very least to professionally run, nonpartisan polls and a clean, accurate and timely count. Many indications that there may be serious problems include:

Polls of presidential and congressional races that show voters in New Mexico and Bernalillo County are virtually evenly divided, as they are in other highly-contested states.

Armies of attorneys being assembled by both major political parties to monitor polls and contest poll practices and vote counts where a decisive edge may be gained.

Long lines, registration irregularities and some mechanical problems with voting machines at early voting sites.

Reports of voter registration fraud, deception or tampering, and fears of voter intimidation.

Missing absentee ballots that were mailed to voters and should have arrived.

Advance warning by Bernalillo County Clerk Mary Herrera that the volume of absentee ballots requested and expected to be submitted in this county will outstrip her staff's ability to process them on Election Day.

If the 2000 presidential election taught us nothing else, we all should agree that in a democracy it's essential that the true winner is certified and that voters have confidence in that result.

Public officials from Gov. Bill Richardson, Attorney General Patricia Madrid and Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron down to every single county clerk must work cooperatively on behalf of every New Mexico voter.

They must do everything within their power to ensure that every voter who seeks to cast a ballot can do so, that those ballots are correctly tabulated and that the results are provided in a timely manner - and all of this without a partisan nod.

It's a tall order, in the current, acrimonious atmosphere. But if they fail to fill it, New Mexico - and potentially the nation - will be the losers.