Legislature approves election reform bill  

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN   The New Mexican
March 19, 2005

SANTA FE - An election reform bill backed by Gov. Bill Richardson cleared the Legislature with just hours remaining in the annual session.

The Senate went along with changes to the bill made by the House, which had approved it 39-26 after more than three hours of debate Friday. Republicans tried unsuccessfully to toughen its voter ID provisions.

The bill includes a requirement that New Mexicans provide some identification at the polls and a mandate that voting machines have a paper trail.

The House vote was nearly party-line, with Democrats supporting the bill and Republicans opposing it.

Rep. Edward Sandoval, D-Albuquerque, called it "landmark legislation."

"This bill will make New Mexico's election process more accurate and timely and make voting more user-friendly for New Mexico voters," he said.

Republicans were less enamored with the proposal.

"It's a small step but it isn't voter ID. It is voter ID with a wink and a nod," said Rep. Justine Fox-Young, R-Albuquerque.

Acceptable voter identification under the measure includes a photo ID, a utility bill, bank statement, government check or paycheck, or student or tribal ID.
 
But the legislation also allows voters to simply provide _ either verbally or in writing _ their name, year of birth and the last four digits of their Social Security number.

Republicans argued that such statements wouldn't be accepted when buying an airline ticket, cashing a check or getting medical attention. They contend fraud would still be possible.

"Voter ID means when you go to a poll, you pull out your ID and present it," said Rep. Eric Youngberg, R-Albuquerque.

Republicans rattled off instances of reported voter fraud during the 2004 general election, but Sandoval said he wasn't aware of any convictions stemming from those reports.

"My feeling is that it's pretty much a non-issue," Sandoval said.

Rep. Dan Foley, R-Roswell, accused Sandoval and the other Democrats of ignoring the wishes of the people.

"This bill seems to be missing voter ID," Foley said. "Over the last election cycle, one of the things heard overwhelmingly from the people is that they wanted voter ID."

Republicans also were concerned about a provision added by the House Voters and Elections Committee that allows a presiding judge at a precinct to throw out the requirement for a physical form of ID if voters spend more than 45 minutes waiting to cast their ballot.

Fox-Young offered an amendment to strike the 45-minute rule but was shot down, setting up a back-and-forth battle of GOP attempts to amend the bill and repeated motions to table them.

The legislation also allows county clerks to begin feeding absentee ballots into the machines that register the votes five days before the election, to prevent long delays in tallying. The results wouldn't be available until election night.

As of the end of 2006 _ or as soon as enough money is available _ voting machines would be required to provide paper records showing the choices voters had made. Voters could view those before casting their ballots, but would not take paper receipts away from the polls.

The legislation also clamps down on the so-called 527 political committees that blanketed parts of the state registering voters last year.

The bill requires those groups to register with the secretary of state, provide information on their workers, give receipts to voters and turn in registrations to county clerks within 48 hours.

A person who registers an ineligible voter would be guilty of a petty misdemeanor and would have his or her status as a third-party registrar revoked.

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