Court to Require ID From New Voters?

A hearing this Thursday in Albuquerque before State District Judge Robert L. Thompson will determine whether New Mexicans who have registered after July 1, 2003 will be required to show identification before being allowed to vote.

In addition, new registrants voting via absentee ballot would be required to submit a photocopied ID with their ballot. The only new voters who wouldn't need to show ID would be those who registered in person at a County Clerk's office or who registered before the July 1, 2003 deadline. The decision would affect at least 112,000 new registrants, including thousands whose registrations were submitted by voter registration groups.

According to an article in today's Albuquerque Journal, the Secretary of State's Bureau of Elections believes that many problems may arise if these requirements are applied:

College students might lack driver's licenses with current addresses, and rural residents, particularly Native Americans, might not have utility bills necessary for identification at the polls, elections bureau director Denise Lamb said in an affidavit filed Monday in a state District Court case.

Also, some absentee voters would be required to send in a photocopy of their identification with their ballot, Lamb said. And those "thousands and thousands" of people might have their votes invalidated, she said.

"If a voter mistakenly places the identification within the inner envelope of the absentee ballot, the county clerk employee cannot open that envelope without violating the privacy of the vote, and thus that vote is invalid," Lamb said in the affidavit.

An Albuquerque Tribune article reports on an earlier preliminary injunction and stay ordered by Judge Thompson, saying

Thompson had agreed with plaintiffs who claimed the state statute governing voter registration was clear and unambiguous, and today he again said he will likely not change his decision despite Thursday's hearing.

In the same article:

Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron and the state Democratic Party had argued that the statute does not provide for that and to require such identification would result in chaos and the disenfranchisement of thousands of voters.

Assistant Attorney General David Thomson, who is representing the Secretary of State's Office, also said it would be impossible now to differentiate as to how new voters have registered up until now.

Next thing you know, some Republicans will be pushing for ID chips to be placed in voters' foreheads and for background checks to clear people for the "privilege" of voting. Low-income and minority populations are especially vulnerable to intimidation at the polling place and, in a race this close, New Mexico Republicans know that ID requirements can be used to keep some likely Democratic voters at home.

Barbara Wold
DFNM-Albuquerque