Word from New Mexico is that they have begun to count provisional ballots in the close and contested Democratic presidential primary there. Our colleague Lonna Atkeson, who has been studying the ballot counting process there, is quoted in an AP story:

Lonna Atkeson, a political science professor at the University of New Mexico who planned to observe the provisional ballot verification process, predicted a drawn out wait.

“Our state is so competitive at a federal level that we have to count the votes and we have to count them by hand and we have to verify voters and that’s time consuming, especially on the provisionals,” she said.

The examination of the provisional ballots will be closed to the news media but will be attended by representatives from both the Obama and Clinton campaigns, Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Atkeson, party officials said.