Senate Passes Election Reform

By Andy Lenderman
Albuquerque Journal Politics Writer   17 March 2005
    The Senate early Wednesday approved New Mexico election law changes that call for voter identification and "paper trails" from electronic voting machines.
    Just after midnight, the Senate voted 24-17 to send the measure on to the House.
    The measure's sponsor, Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, said the legislation will address election problems that have plagued the state for years.
    Lopez's bill would require voter identification for all voters in every election. Republicans, however, said the bill doesn't have a real voter identification requirement.
    It also would require all voting machines in the state to have a "voter verifiable and auditable paper trail" to go along with electronic voting machines.
    Stricter regulation of voter registration groups is another provision of the Lopez measure.
    Several Republicans said the voter identification requirements in Lopez's bill aren't stringent enough.
    Sen. Steve Komadina, R-Corrales, offered an amendment that would require voters to dip a finger in ink in order to prevent repeat voting, as was done in the recent Iraqi elections. The amendment failed on a 17-22 vote.
    Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, offered an amendment that would restrict what forms of identification would be acceptable. It, too, failed on a vote of 18-22.
    "All of these things are in here, but there's no voter ID," Adair said.
    Lopez said her bill (committee substitute for SB 678, 680, 718 and 735) includes recommendations from Gov. Bill Richardson, Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, Sen. Dianna Duran, R-Tularosa, Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino D-Albuquerque, and several county clerks.
    "Their hard work has resulted in a bill that addresses many of the concerns that have caused questions to arise in the minds of the electorate," Lopez said.
    In a seven-page speech to the Senate, Lopez covered many election problems in New Mexico in recent years.
    She listed "absentee ballot application irregularities; inconsistent processes and procedures at the polling place and during the official canvass; long delays in tallying absentee votes; the lack of a paper trail audit that will ensure the integrity of the state's voting systems; reliable qualification of provisional, absentee and other paper ballots; and processes for contests, recounts and rechecks."
    In order to vote under the voter identification provision of Lopez's bill, citizens would need to sign a statement with their name, year of birth and the last four digits of their Social Security number.
    In the alternative, a voter could show identification such as a driver's license, utility bill or bank statement. The address on the identification would not need to match the voter's address as listed at the polling place.
    So-called paper trails for electronic voting machines in Lopez's bill means "a paper record of the voter's choices viewed by the voter prior to casting the ballot."
    The paper trail would be used to check the accuracy of the machine or may be used in a recount, Lopez said, and will be considered the true and correct record of the voter's choice.
    The bill calls for an audit of a randomly ed voting system from each state House district. If the paper record and the electronic record did not match, the county clerk would perform a hand recount.
    Other provisions include:
   
All newly registered voters would receive a copy of their form when registering to vote.
   
Organizations and workers who registered others to vote would have to file their information with the Secretary of State's Office.
   
Each registration form and absentee ballot application would have a control number so it could be tracked.
   
The secretary of state would provide a single training manual for all election workers statewide.
   
Every voter would receive a new voter registration card before each statewide election.
   
County clerks could begin processing absentee ballots five days before Election Day.
    Another broad election reform measure, House Bill 1063, is still in the House Voters and Elections Committee. It's unclear when the Senate bill will be heard by the House.