Posted on 08/27/2004 1:48:02 PM PDT by DesertDreamer
Bernalillo County voters who registered through a third party and did not show identification when they registered will have to do so at the time they vote, a state district judge ruled in Albuquerque today.
Judge Robert L. Thompson agreed today to issue a temporary restraining order that in essense challenges the way the secretary of state has interpreted a law requiring identification for all first-time voters, either at the time they register by mail or at the time they vote.
"We're all finding that every vote counts," Thompson said this morning in disclosing his decision.
The temporary restraining order is the first step in a lawsuit filed two weeks ago by by Rep. Joe Thompson, an Albuquerque Republican and an attorney; Albuquerque attorneys Pat Rogers and David Garcia; Rep. Larry Larrañaga, who also is an Albuquerque Republican; and private citizens Toby Gutierrez, Juan Paul Atencio Jr., Steve Cabiedes, Carla Gonzalez and Debra Torza.
The lawsuit asked the court to compel the secretary of state to require first-time voters who apply by mail to present identification either when registering or when voting, a procedure the plaintiffs argued was set in law by the Legislature in January.
Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron has disagreed with that interpretation and instructed the Bernalillo County clerk to avoid demanding identification from such newly registered voters.
Suspicious voter registrations were reported in Bernalillo County as early as June when County Clerk Mary Herrera said scores of registrations had been submitted for voters who already were registered. The clerk said people had been told, falsely, that the county had lost part of its voter database and they had to register again.
Herrera said today 78,000 new voter registrations have been received since the beginning of the year, and 3,000 of those had problems of one sort or another that took the registrants off the election rolls.
The County Clerk's Office said when the lawsuit was filed that many of the flawed registrations are traceable to an aggressive sign-up drive by ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
An ACORN representative estimated that as of the first week of August it had turned in 25,000 new registration cards. Matthew Henderson also said the clerk's office directed the organization to turn in all cards, even those that have flaws.
ACORN uses paid canvassers who earn $8 an hour and get a $50 bonus if they turn in more than 24 cards in a day, crew leader Seanna Silver said.
Herrera said today, "We'll have to make some adjustments on how we receive registration forms."
She predicted Thompson's ruling could force her office to request overtime money and hire more staff as it sorts through registrations to determine who will need to present identification to vote.
David A. Garcia, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the order does not change the law, as opponents have suggested. "That's not a change," he said. "That's what the law has said all along.
John Boyd, representing the New Mexico Democratic Party, disagreed. He said, "They are changing the rules of the game at the final eve of the election."
Issuing the order, he said, could cause "chaos, serious disenfranchise effect" in the election.
Democrats have long opposed any requirement for voters to present identification, arguing that it discourages people from participating in elections.
"New Mexicans are not used to showing identification at the polls. So I'm concerned this might discourage or prevent people from voting in November," said Matthew Henderson, ACORN head organizer. "We, of course, want a fair process. But I have yet to see evidence that fraudulent voters are actually getting onto the voter rolls here."
Judge Thompson said today the statute "is clear on its face and not ambiguous" in the requirement for identification.
The Attorney General's Office, which represents the secretary of state and the Bureau of Elections, could appeal Thompson's ruling to the state Court of Appeals, and that was something Thompson said he was aware could happen.
Thompson gave each party until Monday morning to word the restraining order, which he expects to put in place by noon Monday. The Attorney General's Office also requested time for a hearing that morning as well.
Earlier this month Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White asked the U.S. attorney to investigate what he said were fraudulent registrations after he uncovered evidence that voters were registering multiple times and a completed card had been returned to a 15-year-old boy.
U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Norm Cairnes said today it is Department of Justice policy not to comment on active investigations, even to confirm or deny whether the investigations are actually happening.
Last week Herrera said she had to keep 15 temporary employees to deal with the volume of new registrations, which were running at about 1,000 a day and more on Mondays.
Everybody bring a digital camera to the polls. Take pictures and vids of anything suspicious. I get so burned when I hear that crap, Bush stole the election, when democrats are the voter felons year in and year out. If I see voter fraud anywhere this year, I'll probably need to be bailed out the next day. (As long as my vote has already been cast)
Sitting here scratching my head, wondering how the hell you know who the person is who's voting if you don't see an ID? I pretty dang sure I've ALWAYS had to show my ID in order to get a ballot. But then again, I'm not in New Mexico, which is a Democrat area.
Check it ahhhht. 'n'at.
Amazing!
This state is so larded with DemocRATs who feed on the ingnorant New Mexicans to retain their power that it would make an outsider sick!
I'm glad I sold my Sandia Mountainsite home and moved the hell out of there.
The photos could be uploaded in seconds to a central repository. Hmmmmmm
Put New Mexico in the Bush column - there goes 50% of sKerry's support!
I didn't have to show one to vote in Iowa. What's more, they read me my SS number.
You have led a sheltered life, don't you know that asking for ID's intimidates our immigrant CITIZENS? </sarcasm>
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