A State of Indecision

Looks like I'm living in the right place, eh? As of right now New Mexico remains the lone undecided state for the Democrats. But I did, I promise, vote yesterday, and at a site without the problems described in this link.

Yesterday's debacle has left four precincts and 16,871 provisional ballots, uncounted this morning. Most of the precincts are in Rio Arriba County, which is one of the places where there was a huge snowstorm Monday and Tuesday, though I don't know if that had anything to do with it. The KOAT article mysteriously says that the Rio Arriba county chair "cannot be reached for the returns." What could this mean, don't you wonder? Rio Arriba County is heavily Hispanic, which means it will most likely push Hillary over the top for the state. The candidates were in a pretty close heat when I folded last night. An interesting note here is that when I asked my Beginners' ESL class yesterday (all Mexican immigrants, none citizens capable of voting) who they'd vote for if they could, as one they answered "Hillary." But then, see this article by Roberto Lovato in this morning's HuffPo: Clinton's Latino Advantage Decreases, Obama Surges as Latinos Vote Beyond Black and White.

Many polling places, especially here in Albuquerque, ran out of ballots late in the day, because of a far heavier voter turnout than the Democratic Party expected. I don't understand why the voters waiting for ballots (and some people waited two and three hours, some outside voting sites, in the freezing temps) weren't given the provisional ballots that were given out for other problems. Hundreds of voters left without voting, some after waiting several hours, people needing to get to work or home to children. I'd feel pretty disenfranchised in such a position. The NM Democratic Party is going to get a lot of bad blowback from this, I'm afraid. (Photo from Democracy for New Mexico)

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