NM Voter Plaintiffs applaud Governor's decision

18 January 2006

Plaintiffs applaud Governor's decision.

Lawsuit remains until the plan is fully

implemented.

www.voteraction.org

January 13, 2006, Albuquerque - On Thursday, January 12,

2005, New Mexico s Governor Bill Richardson and Attorney

General Patricia Madrid demonstrated bold leadership by

announcing a plan to make New Mexico an all-paper-ballot

voting state. This is a great day for New Mexicans because

it means that we will be able to cast our votes with

confidence that a mechanism is in place that will allow all

votes to be counted and tallied and the results

verified.

The Governor said that he will introduce

legislation next week, at the beginning of the 30-day 2006

state legislative session that, if adopted, will accomplish

two things: 1) it will mandate the use of optical scan

paper ballots in all New Mexico elections, and (2) it will

provide $11 million in state funding to purchase the

necessary voting systems. If the legislation is adopted by

the legislature and implemented before the next election,

inaccurate, unreliable and insecure electronic voting

machines that produce no voter-verifiable and auditable

paper record will be a thing of the past.

This

Governor s proposal is a great victory for the many

concerned citizens and organizations who have tirelessly

advocated the change to paper ballots. And it is a great

victory for the plaintiffs in Lopategui v. Vigil-Giron, a

lawsuit in which the plaintiffs sought this very result. The

lawsuit, filed in January 2005, seeks an injunction barring

future use of the same unreliable, paperless electronic

voting machines that will be replaced under the Governor s

plan if the legislature adopts it. A catalyst for the

Governor s decision was the Lopategui plaintiffs recent and

successful effort to temporarily restrain the Secretary of

State and county clerks from beginning the purchase of

additional unreliable touch screen machines.

New Mexico s

next statewide election is in June, 2006. Thus it is

critical that the Governor s proposal be implemented

immediately so that all New Mexico voters will have

confidence that their votes and will count and can be

verified. For this reason, the Lopategui plaintiffs intend

to press forward with their lawsuit, particularly with their

efforts to gather evidence needed to obtain judicial relief

if the legislature does not adopt the Governor s plan , or

if the statutory changes and funding adopted are too little

or too late.

In the Lopategui litigation, Plaintiffs

have already obtained critical evidence in discovery about

the untrustworthiness of touchscreen voting systems and the

serious inadequacy of the Secretary of State s process for

auditing election results. By gathering more evidence

through depositions and inspection of voting systems,

plaintiffs will be in a position to seek timely judicial

relief should the Governor s plan not be implemented. As

soon as New Mexico can assure that all voters, regardless of

the color of their skin, where they live, or their physical

ability are able to cast their votes on verifiable,

auditable paper ballots, plaintiffs will give final, hearty

congratulations to Governor Richardson, Attorney General

Madrid, and the state legislature for protecting our

democracy.

Voter Action is a project of the

International Humanities Center. www.voteraction.org

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