New Mexico Supreme Court Asked to Require Recount

COBB/LaMARCHE 2004
http://www.votecobb.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 18, 2004

New Mexico Supreme Court Asked to Move Recount Forward Rally for the Recount Set for Sunday

The Cobb-LaMarche Green Party presidential campaign is asking the New Mexico Supreme Court to urgently address the campaign's demand for a recount of the New Mexico presidential vote.

"We believe the Governor, Secretary of State and State Canvassing Board are violating New Mexico law by delaying the recount and by setting conditions for it which have no legal precedent," said Blair Bobier, Media Director for the Cobb-LaMarche campaign.

"We have complied with all necessary criteria and it is time for the law to be upheld. If the Governor is unwilling to follow the law, then it is up to the New Mexico Supreme Court to intervene. There is a time-honored American tradition here which needs to be upheld: no elected official is above the law," said Bobier.

A petition for a writ of mandamus was filed by attorneys for Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and Libertarian Michael Badnarik on Wednesday, December 15.

"It is absolutely irresponsible for the state of New Mexico to treat this recount so frivolously, when the very core of our democracy, the voting system, is at stake," said Rick Lass, local organizer for the recount effort. "The state Supreme Court is the citizens' last recourse to justice, and citizens are demanding their right to a meaningful recount. The justices must step forward and guarantee the people that their votes will be counted completely and accurately," Lass added.

Citizen activists will be converging on the New Mexico state Capitol Sunday, December 19, at noon, in support of the recount. The rally will include speeches by Paul Christie of PACE, a New Mexico nonprofit organization, and Rick Lass for the Cobb campaign. The rally is cosponsored by the Green Parties of Taos and Santa Fe, Veterans for Peace Santa Fe Chapter 55, and Verified Voting New Mexico. Over eight hundred citizen activists have volunteered to observe the recount, nearly two hundred of whom have attended training sessions in the last week.

For more information about the recount efforts in New Mexico and Ohio please see http://www.votecobb.org.

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