Election Protection Report from New Mexico

[...] Provisional ballots appeared to be the largest problem here. Polling places had been changed from the last election. Since New Mexico voter registration confirmation cards do not contain the address of the precinct, people have no ready reference to their polling place location. NM voters are expected to check the Sunday paper to find their precinct address. If they do not get the paper, they do not know where to vote, so many just go to the old location. We called EP headquarters to get precinct addresses for many voters, and encouraged them to go to their correct location. Some were unable to do so because of time limitations or transportation problems.

We had no way of knowing exactly how many voters used provisional ballots, but I estimate that probably 10% did so at my precinct. Now that we know that these provisional ballots will never be counted, this seems highly irregular.

One voter reported a serious error with the touchscreen voting machine. He voted a straight Democratic ticket, but his presidential vote registered for Nader rather than Kerry. He complained to a poll worker, who said that she could not correct the error, and pushed his VOTE button for him. I have his name and phone number on file.

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