Vote 2008: Report cites state's failure to verify voter registration

Reviews mixed on key swing state's election readiness

Kate Nash | The New Mexican

9/16/2008 - 9/17/08

New Mexico is getting mixed reviews for its election readiness in a new report by Common Cause and The Century Foundation.

The report, which looked at voter registration, voter identification, provisional ballots and voter machine allocation, among other practices, in New Mexico and nine other swing states, said the state "lacks a statewide, fair policy to determine voter registration verification."

"Perhaps more than any other area of election administration, voter registration verification will be impacted by the unusually high number of new voters, and going into the election season without a centrally determined and fair matching standard is a recipe for disenfranchisement," it said.

James Flores, spokesman for the Secretary of State's Office, said a new registrant's Social Security number is checked to be sure it is valid when a person first registers. "As far as actually verifying the registration forms, there is nothing in place," he said.

The report also dinged the state for a law that requires groups that conduct voter registration drives to turn in new voter forms within 48 hours, calling the requirement "onerous" and saying many states allow between 10 and 15 days for forms to be turned in.

"One of the biggest problems with our elections is that too few people vote because they are not registered," Steve Allen, the executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, said in a statement. "So it is unfortunate that we have such onerous requirements for groups working to register voters in New Mexico."
A separate group, the Brennan Center for Justice, is representing four local civic groups in a pending voter-related lawsuit against the state, revolving in part around the 48-hour issue.

The groups that register voters say the law makes it too difficult to hold voter registration drives, in part because state law also requires training by county clerks. Arguments have been heard in the case, but U.S. District Judge James Browning has yet to rule.

While registration groups don't like the 48-hour rule, the Republican Party said Tuesday that the deadline "protects voters from having their personal information, like their Social Security number, from falling into the wrong hands."

Common Cause and The Century Foundation, both open-government groups, said New Mexico has a "relatively fair voter identification requirement."

It cited the wide range of identification documents a voter can use to vote. In addition, the report noted voters also can make a verbal or written statement with a name, year of birth and "unique identifier."

Voter identification rules have long been the subject of debate in the state, with many Republican leaders pushing for tighter ID laws including photo voter identification.

Tuesday's report applauded New Mexico for being the only state surveyed that has a minimum requirement — 10 percent of registered voters — for the number of provisional ballots that must be available at each precinct.

As for voting machine allocation, another report from the group FairVote earlier this month found no standardized method for the allocation of poll booths in New Mexico, during a survey of 29 of the state's 33 county clerks.

Only five clerks plan to have written allocation plans for the general election, the group said it found.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog, Green Chile Chatter, at www.santafenewmexican.com.