United States presidential election in New Mexico, 2000

United States presidential election in New Mexico, 2000

November 7, 2000

Nominee Al Gore George W. Bush Party Democratic Republican Home state Tennessee Texas Running mate Joe Lieberman Dick Cheney Electoral vote 5 0 Popular vote 286,783 286,417 Percentage 47.91% 47.85%

County Results   Gore—70-80%   Gore—60-70%   Gore—50-60%   Gore—<50%   Bush—<50%   Bush—50-60%   Bush—60-70%   Bush—70-80%

President before election Bill Clinton Democratic Elected President George W. Bush Republican

The 2000 United States presidential election in New Mexico took place on November 7, 2000 throughout all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 2000 United States presidential election. Voters chose five electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

New Mexico was won by Vice President Al Gore by less than a 0.1% margin. It was the closest state in the entire election with respect to actual vote differential (366 votes), closer even than Florida. The news outlets called New Mexico for Gore at approximately 10:21 p.m. (EST),^[1] but later retracted the call when it was determined to be too close to call.^[2]

Gore was not declared the winner of the state until November 17.^[3] Gore carried the northern part of the state, home of the 3rd district. Bush carried the southern part of the state, which is home of the 2nd district. The central part of the state, home of the 1st district, was won by Gore with a slim 48%-47% margin.^[4][5]

In the days following the election, when the disputes and recounts began, New Mexico, despite having a razor-thin margin, went largely ignored. Its 5 electoral votes alone would not have changed the overall outcome in the Electoral College if it were switched from Gore to Bush or vice versa.^[6][7] The respective campaigns ended up paying little attention to recount efforts in New Mexico, and focused their efforts solely on Florida. Likewise, the media focused very little on the New Mexico recount. After the final count was certified for Gore on November 30,^[7] the Bush campaign did not challenge the results.^[7]

Results

United States presidential election in New Mexico, 2000
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Al Gore	Joe Lieberman	286,783	47.9%	5
	Republican	George W. Bush	Dick Cheney	286,417	47.9%	0
	Green	Ralph Nader	Winona LaDuke	21,251	3.6%	0
	Libertarian	Harry Browne	Art Olivier	2,058	0.3%	0
	Reform	Pat Buchanan	Ezola Foster	1,392	0.2%	0
	Natural Law	John Hagelin	Mary Alice Herbert	361	0.1%	0
	Constitution	Howard Phillips	Michael Peroutka	343	0.1%	0
Totals				598,605	100.00%	3
Voter turnout (Voting age/Registered)						46%/61%

By congressional district

Gore won 2 of 3 congressional districts.^[8]

District	Bush	Gore	Representative
1st	47%	48%	Heather Wilson
2nd	54%	43%	Steve Pearce
3rd	43%	52%	Tom Udall

Electors

Technically the voters of New Mexico cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. New Mexico is allocated 5 electors because it has 3 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 5 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the most votes in the state is awarded all 5 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for President and Vice President. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 18, 2000^[9] to cast their votes for President and Vice President. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All were pledged to and voted for Gore and Lieberman:^[10]

1. Tom Atcitty
2. Rick Blea
3. Diane D. Denish
4. Jeep Gilliland
5. Mary Gail Gwaltney

References

1. "2000 Events Timeline - Election Night". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
2. "2000 Events Timeline - Post-Election". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
3. Ferguson, Chaka (2000-11-18). "Gore Finally Wins in New Mexico". AP. Yahoo.com. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
4. "Presidential Results by Congressional District, 2000-2008". Retrieved 2012-01-11.
5. "2000 Presidential General Election Results - New Mexico". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
6. "Recounts might spread to New Mexico, Oregon". USA Today. 2000-11-13. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
7. "Bush decides against recount in New Mexico". CNN. 2000-12-09. Retrieved 2012-01-11.
8. http://www.swingstateproject.com/diary/4161/
9. http://www.uselectionatlas.org/INFORMATION/ARTICLES/pe2000timeline.php
10. http://presidentelect.org/e2000.html