As many as 75,000 absentee ballots will be cast in the General Election in Bernalillo County, but clerk Mary Herrera is already warning the state and nation that she may not be able to get them counted on Election Night. The looming debacle could set the state up yet again as the laughing stock of the nation, ala Florida, and is a shot across the bow to elected officials here who have refused to tackle the issue.

Herrera says because the absentee's are double sealed and she can't start opening them until the morning of the election, the results may not be available until 5 a.m. Wednesday or even later! We can only hope that Mary is lowering expectations and that some measures can be taken to prevent another chapter of vote counting disgraces from going into the history books.

Can't the County Commission and the Governor get together on this? Why can just about every other county in the nation report on Election Night but not ours? Don't believe the officials who say it's not important to have the vote tallied in a timely fashion. The longer the vote is delayed the more the public is suspicious and the legitimacy of the election, already hotly contested, will be called into question,

The NM Republican Party, in a ridiculous news release, states: "We understand the extra pressure Mary Herrera is under to determine which votes are fraudulent and which are legal." This has nothing to do with "fraud." It has everything to do with manpower, machines and counting capability. The GOP and the Democrats may be at each others throats during the campaign, but when the voting is over they have a responsibility to cooperate to protect the integrity of the democratic process. Will someone, anyone, in a position of authority step forward?

CAMPAIGN GAFFES

It's all Osama all the time in the cartoon-like race in the ABQ Congressional battle between incumbent R Heather Wilson and D challenger Richard Romero. And the contenders are stumbling. The Wilson team stuck their feet in the mud when they quoted the head of Sandia labs in one of its full-page newspaper ads and left the impression that he was endorsing Heather. He quickly stated that was not the case. Then Heather's team, too clever by half, challenged Romero to a debate on national security issues with all kinds of conditions. Romero rejected the debate, even though getting on any stage with her is a plus for him.

Now, Heather has trotted out the guy who brought her to the party in the first place, Senator Domenici. He strong-armed the GOP in 98' to have her replace the late Steve Schiff. Pete appears in the new Heather newspaper ad calling Romero's Osama ad on Heather outrageous. The previous quote from the Sandia Lab guy is gone. Heather, if you're going to go ballistic, don't get it right, get it perfect. Richard, you are the challenger. You accept a debate under any conditions, anytime, anywhere. Just ask John Kerry.

PARK STALLS WITH TRIB

Endorsements by the major state newspapers are somewhat predictable to those of us wrapped up in the game, but the ABQ Tribune did throw a curve this week when the normally liberal editorial page dissed State Rep. Al Park in favor of his GOP challenger Kathy Leyendecker. The pair is fighting for Park's ABQ SE Heights seat. Attorney Park has raised at least a 100 grand and is favored to keep the seat. But the snub by the Trib, even though friendly, raised eyebrows and gave Leyndecker's camp something to cheer about. We also note it because of Al's ambitions for the Attorney General's job in two years.

BLOGGING KNME-TV

Join me tonight (Friday) on KNME-TV at 8:30 p.m when I sit down with "In Focus" host Kate Nelson and other guests to talk NM politics. Several predictions are made so be sure to check it out.

Make our site, WWW.JOEMONAHAN.COM, one of your favorites and e-mail a link to interested friends. Want to advertise to NM's large political community? E-mail me from the top right of this page, or call 505-243-4059 for details.

(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2004
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