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Filed under Politics (National) New Mexico, We Have A Problem
Shelby Holliday reporting from New Mexico (2008-10-31 19:41:24)
Source: http://palestra.net/videos/play/18030
New Mexico, we have a problem.
(Click video "source" at top to see the story.)
As part of our ongoing investigation into issues surrounding voter fraud, we have discovered a VERY disconcerting situation. And this time, it's not in Ohio...
It looks like out-of-state volunteers and staffers are registering and casting ballots in the battleground state of New Mexico, too.
One example is Shayne Adamski. He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, is actively involved in politics and was a California delegate at the Democratic National Convention just 2 short months ago. Adamski is also a paid employee on the Obama campaign, and he traveled to New Mexico to help get out the vote in this swing state. All of this is quite admirable.
However, according to the Bernalillo County Clerk, Adamski registered to vote as a resident of Albuquerque on October 5. That's just 38 days after he was representing the state of California as a delegate on the final day of the Democratic National Convention. He also requested an absentee ballot. (We do not yet know if he cast a ballot, we are waiting to hear from the County Clerk.)
Tiffany Wilson and I traveled to New Mexico with photojournalist Gary Orr to check things out.
We were able to speak with Carlos Sanchez, a spokesperson for the Obama campaign, but he declined to comment on Adamski's specific situation. Unfortunately, we were unable to speak with Adamski himself due to campaign policy.
Since we can't talk to Adamski directly or get information about him from the campaign, we don't know whether or not he moved to Albuquerque and/or intends to reside here, but we were curious: are out-of-state campaign workers eligible to claim residency in New Mexico and cast a ballot?
We realize that New Mexico does not abide by the Ohio Revised Code, something we have become very familiar with in the past few weeks. In Ohio, you must be a resident of the state 30 days prior to the election AND have the intention of residing there permanently. Was this the case in New Mexico?
We asked the Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver this very question. Contrary to what we have discovered in Ohio, she said that out-of-state volunteers WERE in fact able to register and to vote in New Mexico.
When we asked how this was allowed, she replied: "It's not that it's allowed so much as that it's not enforced. There is really no enforcement mechanism in place to evaluate whether someone's submitting a registration based on a temporary address."
Concerning? Yes.
But that's not the end of the story:
Tiffany and I made our way from Albuquerque to Santa Fe and paid a visit to the New Mexico Secretary of State Mary Herrera, a Democrat, to pose the same question. How can it be possible for out-of-staters to just come into New Mexico and cast a vote?
The Secretary of State had a VERY different response. According to Herrera, voters MUST intend to make New Mexico their home. Much like Ohio, they can NOT come into the state for temporary purposes and claim residency in order to cast a ballot.
When we shared what we had uncovered and gave her names of some out-of-state volunteers we had come across, she seemed very concerned.
New Mexico has already begun opening and counting absentee ballots. If you check out Adamski's Facebook profile picture above, it looks like his ballot may have already been filled out and perhaps even counted.
Adamski is not the only out-of-state voter we have encountered. In addition to others from California, we've done some preliminary research that indicates that Texans have been coming into New Mexico by the bus load... have they been voting here too?
For the latest updates, go here: http://www.palestra.net/blogs/browse/214
read Shelby Holliday's blog | view Shelby Holliday's profile
Comments
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Kaptain Amerika @ 2008-11-01 14:10:44 --
you're doing a great job Shelby, keep up the good work... your future is very bright. maybe as bright as your smile.
Kaptain Amerika @ 2008-11-01 14:26:54 --
http://defend-america.com/2008/11/01/shelby-tiffany-finding-more-and-more-obama-vote-imports/