Report: NM Interim Legislative Committee Discussion on Election Day Registration

From Paul Stokes, United Voters NM:
On Friday 11 August, Election Day Registration (EDR) was discussed with the New Mexico legislative interim committee on Courts, Corrections, and Justice. This is the interim committee to which election reform issues were assigned by the Legislative Council.

Common Cause New Mexico joined United Voters of New Mexico and Verified Voting New Mexico in arranging for this discussion. Matt Brix, Executive Director of Common Cause New Mexico, arranged to have Larry Ghan, County Commissioner from Bannock County, Idaho, explain to the interim committee his experience in establishing and using EDR in his state.

Mr. Ghan said that EDR is very popular and very successful in Idaho. He noted that the possibility of voter fraud may be the greatest concern people have about EDR, but that has not been a problem in Idaho; in fact, he said that there had been no instances of voter fraud related to EDR.

He further said that EDR is consistent with a fundamental aspect of democracy to provide the opportunity to vote to as many citizens as possible. The increase in voter turnout from the experience of Idaho and other states with EDR is in the range or 10 to 15 percent.

Other points he made included the fact that EDR eliminates the rush to register at the office of the county clerk prior to elections, and that candidates for election do not need to worry about who is and who is not registered and, instead, can concentrate on their messages to the electorate.

In the following discussion, Ernie Marquez, state Bureau of Elections director, said that the office of the Secretary of State had no objection to EDR, but suggested that now might not be the time because of all the other changes taking place with our elections.

Some legislators asked questions and expressed opinions regarding their concerns with voter fraud. For example, immigrants voting, inadequate time on election day to check out qualifications of voters, etc. These are familiar concerns, and Mr. Ghan's response was that they had not had any such problems, and that there should be a presumption that voters are qualified if they present the required documentation.

On the other hand, some legislators said that, on balance, EDR was the right thing because it enabled more qualified voters to vote. Rep. Chasey, who chaired the session, circulated an op-ed by Ornstein at the conservative American Enterprise Institute discussing the fact that a number of countries fine citizens who do not vote.

Ernie Marquez expressed his concern about EDR not allowing adequate time to check the qualifications of voters. He used the example of not being able to determine whether or not a potential voter is a felon, and also mentioned a case in which someone in New Mexico voted six
times.

Mary Herrera, Bernalillo County Clerk, said that it would not be possible to adequately check voter qualifications for EDR until a computerized database of voters was available. In the meantime, she supported the idea suggested by one legislator of having affidavits associated with the ballots of persons choosing EDR which would be set aside until the voter qualifications could be checked. This process would be similar to the way in which voters who elect to use absentee ballots, but do not receive their absentee ballots in the mail, are able to vote on election day.

To sum up, the experience with EDR as expressed by Larry Ghan, who was an election official when EDR was established in Idaho, has been very positive. Some legislators expressed concern about voter fraud, even though there is no evidence of significant voter fraud in EDR states - Idaho has had no voter fraud associated with EDR. Other legislators supported EDR because of its demonstrated ability to increase voter turnout.

My understanding is that the interim committee will decide at its November meeting whether to recommend EDR legislation for the 2007 legislative session.

Editor's Note: More information about Election Day Registration can be found at these sources:

• VoteJustice.org