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Tallying Error Incorrectly Gave Votes to Gore
Nov. 10 — A corrected voting glitch has cut into Al Gore’s lead in New Mexico, making it unclear whether he or George W. Bush won the state’s presidential vote.
ABCNEWS and other organizations have pulled New Mexico’s five electoral votes from Gore’s column, giving him 255 electoral votes to Bush’s 246, with New Mexico, Oregon and Florida still to be decided.
A corrected count in Bernalillo County, New Mexico’s largest county, narrowed Gore’s edge over Bush, although specific numbers were not available, local officials said.
The error occurred because of a computer’s inability to count ballots where voters picked candidates from the same party in every race on the ballot.
It was unclear whether the retally in Bernalillo County would overturn Gore’s lead statewide. Diane Denish, state Democratic Party chairwoman, said she believed Bush had not made up enough ground to overtake Gore. However, John Dendahl, the state Republican chairman, said he believed Bush was now within 252 votes of the vice president.
A margin of less than 252 votes would be significant because officials in New Mexico are trying to locate that number of apparently missing votes.
Earlier, conflicting reports had given different margins for Gore’s statewide lead in New Mexico, but all had the vice president ahead by at least several thousand votes.
‘Lawsuits All Over America’
Republicans have been raising the specter of challenging contested balloting in New Mexico and other states if Democrats and their supporters persist too long in questioning the presidential vote count in Florida.
Speaking on ABCNEWS’ Good Morning America, Bob Dole, the former Republican senator and presidential candidate, called upon Democrats to concede defeat if they trail when Florida recount results are officially announced.
“We can bring actions in a number of states,” Dole said. “I mean if it gets to be real partisan, we’ll start the campaign over — we’ll go to Milwaukee, we’ll probably go to Chicago, maybe New Mexico, maybe Oregon, maybe Washington state. There could be lawsuits all over America.”
Dole and former Secretary of State James Baker, who is monitoring the Florida recount for the Bush campaign, pointed out that Richard Nixon, a Republican, conceded defeat in a close presidential race in 1960 rather than appeal close results. Both called upon the Gore campaign to do the same and avoid continued partisan discord over the election.
Gore campaign chairman William Daley said the Democrats are not ready to concede while there still is uncertainty.
“It seems very clear that the outcome here in Florida remains in doubt as it will for several more days,” Daley told a news conference. “Waiting is unpleasant for all of us. But suggesting that the outcome of a vote is known before all the ballots are properly counted is inappropriate.”
Other States in Question
But as Dole and the New Mexico vote adjustment indicated, Florida’s closely watched vote count isn’t the only one still in question. At least, three additional states — Oregon, Iowa and Wisconsin — may see their presidential votes end with recounts.
Iowa, with seven electoral votes, and Wisconsin, with 11, currently are in the Democratic presidential column. The outcome of Oregon’s presidential race, with seven electoral votes in the balance, is still to be determined. And for now, so is New Mexico’s.
In Wisconsin, where Bush lost by about 6,000 votes, there is no automatic recount. But a candidate may request a recount. The Bush campaign said it is looking at that possibility.
A Wisconsin Republican official said on Good Morning America the GOP is suspicious of some results in that state.
“We have rampant reports of voter irregularities and voter fraud, perhaps, in Milwaukee County and outside of Milwaukee County,” said Rick Graber, the head of the Wisconsin Republican Party.
In one instance, he alleged, “a New York Democratic operative found herself in Milwaukee passing out cigarettes in exchange for votes for the vice president.”
Missing Ballots
In New Mexico, the Bernalillo County Clerk’s Office had withheld some 38,000 ballots after finding a 252-vote discrepancy in the general election, which a judge says she fears has been compromised.
Bernalillo County election officials reconvened this morning to try to resolve the snafu involving some 37,000 early voting ballots and 1,600 ballots that needed to be counted by hand because damage prevented them from being machine-tallied.
State District Judge Theresa Baca feared the election has been compromised, and said officials would not release results from the early voting ballots “until we try to figure out what caused the [252-vote] discrepancy.”
Dendahl said early today the GOP was contemplating legal action. But later this morning he backed off, saying the Republican Party had not made any plans or any decision on legal action.
“We’re very much in the business today of toning down the rhetoric and not sounding like the engines are turning on the bombers,” he said.
Tight Races
In Iowa, Republican officials are exploring the possibility of requesting a voter recount in a state that Bush lost by less than 5,000 votes.
To ask for a recount, Bush would have to personally write each of Iowa’s 99 county auditors by 5 p.m. Nov. 16 or 17, depending on the county.
“The [vote] canvas will take place Monday and Tuesday of next week,” said Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa, a Democrat. “After that, there’s a three-day window of opportunity for any candidate who was on the ballot or who received votes to request a recount.”
In Oregon, Gore is leading by 5,400 votes with about 31,000 to be counted, according to Paddy McGuire, chief aide to the Oregon’s Democratic secretary of state.
A recount may be required by state law if the margin between Bush and Gore were less than one-fifth of 1 percent, or about 2,800 votes. In addition, a recount may be requested by Dec. 12, provided the individual or organization requesting the recount posts a bond to cover the cost.
ABCNEWS’s Kendra Gahagan, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. |
