Results of Friday Election Reform Bill Hearing

On Friday, February 25, 2005, the Senate Rules Committee passed the combination election reform bill, sponsored by Rules Committee Chair Linda Lopez and Senator Ortiz y Pino, on a straight party line without recommendation. All Democrats on the committee voted for the bill, while all Republicans voted against the bill.  Senators Lopez and Ortiz y Pino worked in conjunction with the Governor's office and the Secretary of State's office in crafting this bill, and it's been reported that the Governor supports it.

This bill presently includes requirements for what is called a "voter verified paper trail," as well some form of a recount procedure, but the language does not entirely fulfill all of our requirements.

This bill is called the Election Reform Substitute Bill (SRC/SB40) and combines/replaces Senate Bills 678, 680, 718 and 735.

This weekend the Senate Rules Committee will work on the combined bill, with the Governor's and Secretary of State's offices, to create amendments. There is a push to have these amendments include language that better matches our desires for a "voter verifiable paper ballot," as well as a more clearly defined automatic audit requirement.

This combined bill will next go to the Senate Judiciary Committee early next week. We have heard it will be considered on Wednesday, March 2, but this can change. It is believed the bill has a very good chance of passing the SJC, as its membership is 6 Democrats and 4 Republicans. Senator Linda Lopez, who is working on the amendments this weekend, is also a member of the SJC and so is in a good position to translate our concerns from the Rules Committee to the Judiciary.

The Senate Judiciary Committee reportedly will also be hearing Senator Cisco McSorley's election reform bill (SB1065) on Wednesday, upon which members of United Voters of New Mexico and Sonja Elison have worked very hard. There is a chance that our preferred language on voter verifiable paper ballots and automatic audit in this bill may be transferred to Sen. Lopez's combination bill if all goes well this weekend.

As things stand, it looks like people should try to attend the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Wednesday, March 2, at 2:30 PM in Room 321 to continue to impress upon the Democratic Senators that election reform is vital and must include provisions for voter verifiable paper ballots and automatic audits and recounts. But keep checking back in case of last-minute changes. At this point in the Legislature, things are very fluid and scheduling can change very quickly.

(Thanks to DFNM member Dory Shonagon for information included in this post. A report on these events with additional information, released by United Voters of New Mexico, follows below.)

LEGISLATION UPDATE
Thank you to everyone who attended the Senate Rules Committee this morning. It lasted until after 2pm, but we accomplished what needed to be done.

Bob Stearns of Verified Voting New Mexico summarizes:
Hi All, Charlotte and Wayne report that the Senate Rules Committee today passed the Election Reform Substitute Bill (SRC/SB40) without recommendation. Consideration began around noon and Senators Linda Lopez (also Committee Chair) and Gerry Ortiz y Pino went through the bill page by page. The Chair gave time for comment by VVPB and Automatic Audit supporters among the public attendees, and substantial discussion focused on the true nature of the VVPB as opposed to the end-of-day print-out tape produced by existing machines. The vote was partisan, with Dems voting for and Repubs against (the latter voting mainly against the Voter ID section of the bill, as being too weak).

Committee Chair Lopez said she intends to make amendments to the bill when it is considered probably early next week in the Judiciary Committee, of which she is a member. She also said that she will check with the House side to move the bill through. This appears now to be the Governor's Bill. Best, Bob S.

In addition, our statements, which all referred to VOTER VERIFIABLE PAPER BALLOTS and AUTOMATIC AUDITS, seemed to strongly affect all of the Senators. In addition to being concerned about the Voter ID section of the bill, the Republicans were concerned that if SRC didn't amend the bill before passing it on, that the other committees didn't have the expertise to do so. Our amendments were in part what they were referring to.

So not only was the bill passed as we hoped, I believe we also made an impact on the opinions of the Senators in attendance.

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