Judge Saw Risk in Voter ID Plan

By Dan McKay
Albuquerque Journal Staff Writer  09 September 2004

    Forcing more New Mexico voters to present identification at the polls could disrupt the fall election and keep some voters from casting their ballots, according to a court decision released Wednesday.
    The written order by state District Judge Robert L. Thompson is the first detailed explanation of why he rejected a Republican-backed bid to require thousands of first-time voters to present ID. Supporters said the identification requirement is clearly mandated under a 2003 law.
    "The 11th hour request by the plaintiffs creates a risk of substantially disrupting the public voting process which far outweighs any potential harm to the plaintiffs," Thompson wrote.
    The lawsuit, filed last month, put the spotlight on allegations of fraud and suspect voter-registration forms turned in to the Bernalillo County Clerk's Office— including a 13-year-old who somehow ended up on the voter rolls.
    Plaintiffs' attorney Pat Rogers said his clients— including the father of the 13-year-old— haven't decided whether to appeal.
    Sen. Pete Domenici, in a statement Wednesday, said he was "dismayed and disappointed" at this week's ruling. He called on the U.S. Justice Department to help ensure a fair, honest election in New Mexico.
    Thompson's written decision said county clerks and the secretary of state already have procedures in place that prevent registration "from becoming a mechanism for fraudulent voting." He also said that ordering election officials to change how they've been interpreting the 2003 law would cause problems, especially because the Nov. 2 balloting is less than 60 days away.
    The dispute revolves around House Bill 383, which went into effect last year. It requires some first-time voters to show ID before casting their ballots.
    The Secretary of State's Office has interpreted the law to mean that only voters who register by mail must show ID.
    Plaintiffs in the lawsuit contended the law requires all first-time registrants who didn't register with a county clerk to show some form of ID. That means people who have signed up during registration drives at the University of New Mexico or elsewhere would have to show ID, too.
    The conflicting interpretation would affect roughly 112,000 voters.
    Thompson suggested that it's impractical to change the interpretation of the law now. He said election officials haven't completely kept track of which new voters have signed up in person at the clerk's office and which have signed up through third-party registration drives at UNM or elsewhere.
    Voters who signed up through the registration drives weren't told they must show ID before voting, Thompson said.
    "If the court adopts the interpretation of the statute urged by the plaintiffs and applies it retroactively, over 100,000 new registrants will have lost the opportunity to submit the required identification with their applications for registration and will not have been told ahead of time to bring identification to vote," Thompson said.
    He also said it's "likely that some significant number of voters, if required to return with proper identification, will not return even if they have time and have the proper identification at home."
    Domenici said the ruling "clearly keeps open the prospect that New Mexicans may not be assured that this fall's election will be fair."
    U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, a Republican, is expected today to announce formation of a task force to investigate allegations of voter fraud.
    Outside the courtroom, meanwhile, New Mexico Republicans announced the launch of thousands of automated telephone messages accusing "Democrat front groups" of lying on the stand and invoking their Fifth Amendment protections "when the questions get too tough."
    The Republican announcement said two groups involved in registration drives refused to answer questions when asked during the trial whether they were copying voter-registration cards or taking other information from the cards.
    State Democratic Chairman John Wertheim said the voter-registration groups mentioned in the announcement aren't affiliated with the Democratic Party.
    He also said Republicans "would rather do anything than talk about the real issues of the campaign. ... It's just another example of scare tactics, smear tactics."
    Greg Graves, executive director of the Republican Party of New Mexico, responded that it was Wertheim who was using scare tactics by claiming people would be disenfranchised if they had to show an ID before voting.