Requiring voters to present photo identification before casting ballots at the polls would disenfranchise many New Mexicans and would especially affect minorities, the elderly, students and people with disabilities, said several panelists Monday at a League of Women Voters panel discussion.

Panel members urged lawmakers to vote against any photo ID bill introduced in the Legislature. However, they probably were preaching to the choir -- as only Democratic legislators showed up to the event. Democrats in New Mexico, and elsewhere in the country, tend to be against voter-ID legislation, while Republicans tend to support it.

Several hours before the event, Senate Republicans issued a news release calling the event a "biased forum." Sen. John Ryan, R-Albuquerque, told reporters that all the panelists on the forum were opponents of a plan to require photo identification to vote, and that some had even testified against previous bills in past sessions.

Ryan noted that Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver was on the panel. "They could have asked some other county clerks who are for it, or the secretary of state," Ryan said, referring to Dianna Duran, who has championed the idea for years. He said the forum should be "fair and balanced."

But Meredith Machen of the League of Women Voters said the intent of the forum wasn't to be a "public debate" but a presentation of information about the issue. Both the New Mexico chapter of the league and the national organization are publicly opposed to the idea.

Other panelists included Gabriel Sanchez of The University of New Mexico's Political Science Department, who presented statistics showing minority group members are significantly less likely to have government-issued photo-identification cards; Laurie Weahkee, executive director of the Native American Voting Alliance, who said she believes photo-ID bills are meant to decrease American Indian turnout at the polls; and Steve Allen of the American Civil Liberties Union, who compared photo-ID laws to poll taxes and literacy tests imposed in Southern states after the Civil War to keep black people from voting.

Toulouse Oliver said that while she has seen false voter registrations -- including the case of a man who was prosecuted for registering his dog to vote -- she never has seen any evidence of fraudulent in-person voting.

Rep. Cathrynn Brown, R-Carlsbad, has introduced House Bill 113, which would require such identification at the polls. The bill has been assigned to three House committees -- not a good sign for any bill, especially during a 30-day session. Those committees are Consumer and Public Affairs, Voters and Elections, and Judiciary.

Other photo-ID bills are expected.

One is a 55-page bill from the state county clerks association. Daniel Ivey-Soto, lobbyist for that group, stressed that the clerks have not endorsed any changes in the law. But they drafted their own bill in case the Legislature passes Brown's voter-ID legislation.

The bill proposed by the clerks would allow expired driver's licenses to be used for voter identification. A voter without identification would be allowed to give poll workers a date of birth and Social Security number, which the poll workers would have to verify with the county clerk.

Ivey-Soto said he expects the bill to be introduced in the House within days.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.