86 votes found in New Mexico bathroom

[NHPolitico]

Bush Has Solid Lead in N.M. After Canvass

Wednesday November 17, 2004 11:01 PM

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) - President Bush has kept his lead in New Mexico after the last county in the state to certify votes from the election completed its canvass Tuesday.

Democrat John Kerry picked up 206 votes in Dona Ana County, New Mexico's second largest, while Bush garnered an additional 100, giving him a 6,047-vote lead statewide in an unofficial Associated Press tally. Results from the official count will be released next week.

In 2000, Al Gore beat Bush in New Mexico by 366 votes.

Dona Ana County's review discovered 86 provisional votes missing, but they were found Tuesday in a private bathroom in a locked area that only staff members could enter.

Most New Mexico counties had finished their canvasses by Friday, but Dona Ana County's results were tied up because of disputes over provisional ballots.

[Reds4]

They really have problems in NM with elections don't they?

[Sam Spade]

This is sort of a hallmark of a Bill Richardson-run administration in terms of political elections.

[Alcon]

This is sort of a hallmark of a Bill Richardson-run administration in terms of political elections.

This sort of thing has pretty much happened in every swing state this election term. It isn't really limited to New Mexico. This sort of thing happens - it just happened to be very entertaining this time around. It isn't really the fault of Bill Richardson that some moronic staffer did this.

You've got to wonder, though, what someone was doing taking the ballots to the bathroom with them.

[Sam Spade]

This sort of thing has pretty much happened in every swing state this election term. It isn't really limited to New Mexico. This sort of thing happens - it just happened to be very entertaining this time around. It isn't really the fault of Bill Richardson that some moronic staffer did this.

You've got to wonder, though, what someone was doing taking the ballots to the bathroom with them.

Just remember 2000 in New Mexico. 

[Alcon]

This sort of thing has pretty much happened in every swing state this election term. It isn't really limited to New Mexico. This sort of thing happens - it just happened to be very entertaining this time around. It isn't really the fault of Bill Richardson that some moronic staffer did this.

You've got to wonder, though, what someone was doing taking the ballots to the bathroom with them.

Just remember 2000 in New Mexico. 

I was too young to have been paying attention. What happened?

[Angel of Death]

Fun fact: Officially, New Mexico was actually closer than Florida.

[Erc]

They found what?  3000 Gore votes in a closet somewhere in 2000?

[Sam Spade]

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/11/10/election.president/

Early Saturday, the Associated Press reported that Bush had overtaken Democratic rival Gore by 17 votes in the New Mexico count.

In New Mexico, 257 votes that had been reported missing were found late Friday afternoon in a warehouse that contained all of Bernalillo County's ballots, said County Attorney Tito Chavez. Bernalillo County includes Albuquerque and is the state's most populous county.

New Mexico's Elections Director Denise Lamb chalked up the temporarily missing ballots to "simple incompetence, not conspiracy." She said she still does not know who won the state.

"We don't know what the true spread is," she said.

Another 355 ballots remain to be counted by hand, a spokesman for the secretary of state said. The 257 found Friday afternoon have now been counted."