New Mexico Secretary of State opposed to Republican voter ID bill

The New Mexico Secretary of State is urging the Senate to reject a federal voter ID bill the House passed last week.

Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, New Mexico’s chief elections official, believes the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act threatens to disenfranchise eligible voters, especially for Native American communities, rural areas and women who have changed their names after marriage.

“In New Mexico, we have worked diligently to make voter registration accessible through same-day and online voter registration,” Toulouse Oliver said in a statement. “The SAVE Act’s mandates would effectively dismantle these advancements. ... I urge our leaders in D.C. to reject measures that erect unnecessary barriers to the ballot box.”

The SAVE Act, sponsored by Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, would require people to present in-person proof of U.S. citizenship when they register to vote in federal elections in an effort to secure elections from voter fraud. Voter fraud in U.S. elections is extremely rare, according to studies from Columbia University, Arizona State University and The Washington Post.

“In order to preserve this republic, we must uphold what it means to be able to vote in a U.S. election,” Roy said in a statement after the bill passed in a 220-208 vote on Thursday.

Four Democrats joined Republicans to pass the bill. All three of New Mexico’s House representatives voted no, a move criticized by the New Mexico GOP, which called the bill common sense.

“I’m confident that it’ll die in the Senate,” said Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M. “Because they’ll need to reach a 60-vote threshold in the Senate, and I think there’s still enough good Republicans in the Senate who care about our democracy to hopefully stop it.”

The SAVE Act would require voters to register with documents like a Real ID driver’s license that indicates citizenship, a U.S. passport, a military ID card with a service record that lists a U.S. birthplace, a government-issued photo ID that shows a U.S. birthplace, or a government-issued photo ID with another document proving a U.S. birthplace. Only a few states have a citizen marker on their Real ID.

“Republicans’ requirement to register using a birth certificate or a passport that matches a voter’s current name would make voting harder and more expensive for millions of women,” the Democratic Women’s Caucus said in a statement.

The bill would create a large paperwork burden for voters, secretaries of state offices and county election officials, said Warigia Bowman, who teaches administrative law at the University of New Mexico. When access to the polls is made more complicated, there is usually a restriction in voting participation among poor people, elderly people, African Americans, Latinos and Native Americans, she said.

“African Americans and Native Americans had highly restricted access to the polls for much of our country’s history. ... I would say the statute is deeply disturbing to people who want a robust democracy, a participatory democracy, and a democracy that’s not racially tinged,” she said.

Implementing the ID requirements might take a long time, according to Alex Curtas, spokesman for the New Mexico Secretary of State Office. The Real ID requirements are being fully implemented next month, despite being passed almost 20 years ago.

“Our elections in New Mexico are already secure, transparent, accessible, and we simply don’t need the kind of overreach from Washington that is implicit in something like the SAVE Act,” Curtas said.