it's a Federal Election there should be Federal Laws on voting not state!!!
Posted on 09/29/2004 5:43:05 PM PDT by Libloather
Court rules against requiring voter ID
SANTA FE (AP) — Legions of new voters who registered in voter drives this super-heated election season will not have to show ID when they cast their ballots, the state Supreme Court has ruled.
Siding with Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron, the court in a 4-1 decision said only new voters who registered by mail will have to produce identification.
Voting for the Nov. 2 election begins next Tuesday, when New Mexicans can cast absentee ballots by mail or in county clerks’ offices.
The court without comment rejected the arguments of Republicans who backed a far broader interpretation of a 2003 state voter ID law.
The brief order, issued Tuesday, said only that the Supreme Court concluded ‘‘that the Legislature intended to require identification only for first-time registrants who register by mail.’’
A Republican lawmaker who filed the Chaves County lawsuit that led to the ruling called it ‘‘an abusive reach by a partisan court.’’
‘‘They never asked me what my intent was,’’ said state Rep. Dan Foley of Roswell. ‘‘What they meant was, they understood the intent of the Democrat-controlled Legislature and the partisan secretary of state.’’
The high court ordered Chaves County Clerk David Kunko, a Republican who had challenged Vigil-Giron’s interpretation of the law, to abide by the decision.
Other county clerks statewide would have to follow the ruling as well, according to the attorney general.
The court heard arguments in the case on Monday.
Democrats who had said that a last-minute, broader ID requirement would mean confusion at the polls and the disenfranchisement of new voters hailed the decision.
Vigil-Giron said it ‘‘puts an end to frivolous attempts to disrupt the election process.’’ And Democratic Attorney General Patricia Madrid said it ‘‘should put an end to the Republican Party’s efforts to put obstacles in the way of first-time registrants’ right to vote.’’
Kunko’s lawyer, Pat Rogers, said the clerk respects the court’s order and is ‘‘going to follow the law even though he disagrees with it.’’
Kunko had interpreted the 2003 law to require all voters who did not register in person at his office to show ID when they voted. That would have meant new voters who signed up at state offices, for example, or during voter drives at campuses, grocery stores, gas stations or shopping malls.
‘‘The New Mexico Supreme Court’s bipartisan ruling shows confidence in our election process and in our state and local election officials,’’ said Jeanne Bassett, director of the New Mexico Public Interest Research Group.
The group oversees the nonpartisan New Voters Project, which Bassett said has worked with college Democrats and Republicans on 22 campuses and registered 31,000 people in the last six months, 22,000 of them under age 25.
The majority in the court’s ruling consisted of Chief Justice Petra Maes and Justices Pamela Minzner and Patricio Serna, all Democrats, and Republican Judge Stephen Quinn. Republican Judge Thomas Fitch dissented. Quinn and Fitch, both district court judges, filled in for two Supreme Court members who recused themselves from the case.
The 2003 law was passed to bring the state in line with the federal Help America Vote Act.
It requires that first-time registrants must provide ID — whether voting at the polls or absentee — if their voter registration forms are ‘‘not submitted in person by the applicant.’’
Kunko claimed that meant ‘‘in person’’ at the county clerk’s office. Vigil-Giron said ‘‘in person’’ meant registering other than by mail, including registering in front of someone at a mall.
The ID requirement is to show a ‘‘current and valid’’ identification that has a name and address and could include a photo ID, utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document.
Democrats said some new voters — disproportionately the poor, minorities and students — might have trouble meeting the ID requirement.
Republicans said a broad ID requirement would help curb voter fraud.
‘‘The door is wide open for election fraud’’ because of the ruling, Foley contended.
U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said he was ‘‘profoundly disappointed’’ in the court’s ruling.
‘‘As it stands now, there will be few if any checks at the polls this fall to ensure that a voter is who they say they are,’’ he said in a statement.
NM voter fraud ping.
I'm afraid we're going to see fraud not only in New Mexico, but all over the nation come Nov 4th. This country is headed down a slippery coast that will lead to anarchy.
Bottom line........every voter must prove citizenship, residency and identity.
Nothing less can be tolerated!!
Well, we lost that state.
If these people are so worried about the disenfranchisement of voters, than why are the working double time to keep Nadar off of all of the states ballots!
it's a Federal Election there should be Federal Laws on voting not state!!!
The ID requirement is to show a ‘‘current and valid’’ identification that has a name and address and could include a photo ID, utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document.
Yep, they convinced me. The poor, minorities and students would never have any type of photo ID. They don't even pay for their utilities. Poor, minorities and students are all living on the streets and dumpster diving. And they certainly would never receive any type of paycheck.
GREAT!! Now we're going to have Jaun Fu#*ing Baldes' voting with either a red coffee bean or a blue coffee bean. This has got to be the biggest piece of voter fraud crap in the history of the U.S.!!!!!
Requiring ID sucks... makes ballot box stuffing some much more difficult for those poor lil' Rats.
Why do the people who have no problem with showing an ID when cashing a check at the liquor store get all upset at being asked for an ID at the voting booth?
Well, NM is part of the United States....and...I live here. LOL
"come Nov 4th"
Hey, that is suppose to be for that other site. : )
Outside of LA does any other state require an ID to vote? Picture?
Crooks. I hope none of these clowns ever get considered for a federal judgeship.
Thanks for the ping! I have a feeling that this is the reason why Senator Domenici was on Brit Hume's sprogram this afternoon. NM will have unbelievable voter fraud as a result of this ruling.
I did, I vote in Fairfax, va,
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