SANTA FE – New year, same result.
A trio of bills aimed at toughening New Mexico’s voter identification laws were derailed Tuesday in a House committee, as opponents blasted the measures as unnecessary and claimed they would likely disenfranchise elderly and minority voters.
However, backers of stricter voter ID requirements, including Secretary of State Dianna Duran, reiterated concerns about voter fraud.
“Of course we’re disappointed, but we won’t quit,” Duran told reporters after Tuesday’s hearing of the bills in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee.
Just like in recent years, Democratic lawmakers voted against the measures while Republicans voted in favor of them. All three bills were sidelined – likely for the rest of the 30-day legislative session – by identical 3-2 votes.
Democrats serving on the House committee said they do not believe voter fraud is a problem in New Mexico.
“If my constituents want me to introduced a bill to outlaw the boogeyman, I have two choices – I can introduce a bill to outlaw the boogeyman or I can explain to them that the boogeyman doesn’t exist,” said Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, D-Albuquerque.
New Mexico law currently allows registered voters to meet an identification requirement by writing their name, address and year of birth.
Meanwhile, 31 states require voters to show identification before voting at the polls, though 16 of those states allow nonphoto forms of ID – such as a utility bill or a bank statement – to be used, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
However, the federal government has rejected some of those voter ID laws, and most members of the public who testified at Tuesday’s hearing were opposed to tougher requirements.
Two of the three proposals, HB 113 and HB 235, would have required, with limited exceptions for Native American voters, a photo identification to be shown for a New Mexican to cast a vote on Election Day.
The third measure, HB 207, would have been less restrictive, allowing a form with a voter’s Social Security number as one substitute for a photo ID. A representative from the New Mexico County Clerk’s Affiliate said the bill was crafted with input from counties.
All three bills are sponsored by GOP legislators. One of those lawmakers, Rep. Cathrynn Brown, R-Carlsbad, cited a “crisis of confidence” in New Mexico elections.
Duran, a Republican who previously served in the state Senate, last year testified that 37 people who obtained New Mexico driver’s licenses while they were not U.S. citizens had later registered to vote and voted in elections from 2003 to 2010.
However, the Secretary of State’s Office later recast that number, asserting in a report issued in November 2011 that 19 people who have voted in one or more state elections were probably not U.S. citizens.
— This article appeared on page A4 of the Albuquerque Journal
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