Senator Fears Voter Registration Fraud in NM
By Susan Jones
CNSNews.com Morning Editor
October 15, 2004

(CNSNews.com) - Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M) says he's worried about voter registration fraud in New Mexico, where people do not have to present identification when they show up at the polls.

Domenici said recent get-out-the-vote efforts by advocacy groups raise the possibility that people who are ineligible to vote will do so anyway. He said that includes people who registered more than once; underage voters; and illegal immigrants.

"You're not going to find out at the voting booth, unless you have identification," Domenici told Fox & Friends on Friday. "In New Mexico, the courts have ruled, wrongly in my opinion, that you don't have to have an ID [to vote]."

People planning to cast ballots in New Mexico just need to bring their voter registration cards.

According to a recent report in the Albuquerque Tribune, New Mexico has 150,000 new voters on the rolls, and the state will cast more votes in 2004 than it has in any other election.

The newspaper quoted one researcher as saying there were 900,073 registered voters in New Mexico in 2000, and there will be more than 1, 051,000 this year.

Bush lost New Mexico to Al Gore in 2000 by only 366 votes.