Plain Dealer Backs Obama, McCain

Volunteers began qualifying provisional ballots in New Mexico's Democratic presidential primary Saturday, and the party's top-ranking official promised every valid vote will be counted.

Four days after voters went to the polls to decide between Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, party chairman Brian Colon still couldn't estimate how much longer the tedious process will last.

"We will not sacrifice accuracy for speed," Colon said. "That said, we will work 16-hour days to make sure we can provide the election certification as accurately and as quickly as possible."

Volunteers began examining more than 17,000 provisional ballots that will determine the outcome. They worked in shifts to match names on the provisional ballots against lists of registered Democrats.

With all votes counted except provisionals, preliminary results showed Clinton holding a lead of 1,123 votes in New Mexico. She had 68,654 votes while Obama had 67,531.

Only one delegate from New Mexico hangs in the balance. Based on results so far, Clinton has earned 13 delegates and Obama 12. The popular vote winner will receive another one.

Colon has been criticized for voting problems in Tuesday's election, including long lines at many polling stations. In other cases, election officials ran out of ballots and had to make photocopies.

"Many New Mexicans waited in line for hours to ensure they could participate in selecting the next president of the United States. We will spend hours making sure their vote is counted," Colon said.

He also pledged to look into the flaws to improve the process for future elections and sought to blunt critics by saying more than 150,000 Democrats were energized after visits to New Mexico by both candidates.

"This state was lit on fire by those two candidates in just 10 days," he said.