New Mexico Local Recount Runs Into Another Computer Software Glitch--"We're having problems with the numbers"

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Friday November 10 4:23 AM ET New Mexico Local Recount Runs Into Another Glitch

SANTA FE, N.M. (Reuters) - New Mexico's recount of ballots in one county, which could potentially overturn Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore (news - web sites)'s narrow statewide lead, was delayed after hitting a snag early on Friday, officials said.

New Mexico's five electoral college votes are not enough to decide the national race between Gore and Republican George W Bush, which hinges on a recount in Florida.

But with about 67,000 absentee and early-voting ballots at stake in Bernalillo County, New Mexico's most populous county and the site of Albuquerque, election officials have said the recount result could shave or flip Gore's statewide lead of just over 10,000 votes out of about 527,500 cast.

Bernalillo County spokeswoman Liz Hamm said renewed computer glitches after midnight (2 a.m. EST) stopped the compilation of results from early-voting ballots.

``We're having problems with the numbers. We're not sure yet when we can release them,'' Hamm said.

The counting problem involved early and absentee ballots on which voters had marked a straight party-ticket vote to support every candidate of a particular political party.

Bernalillo County Clerk Judy Woodward has said her staff misprogramd election software and failed to catch the error when the software was tested before Tuesday's general election.

The result was that about three dozen election workers began early on Thursday running the questionable ballots through reprogrammed machines and counting some by hand.

Hamm did not specify what the renewed problem was. Officials had earlier said they expected to announce the recount results in the early morning hours of Friday.

If Bush takes New Mexico, he would still have only 251 of the 270 electoral college votes needed to win the White House. Gore's total would drop to 255, leaving Florida's still undecided 25 electoral votes the key to victory for both men.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001110/ts/election_newmexico_dc_4.html

-- Carl Jenkins (somewherepress@aol.com), November 10, 2000


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