Same-day voter registration should require photo ID
Dianne Hamilton
I was appalled when I saw that the Association of New Mexico County Clerks supports House Bill 123 and Senate Bill 161 allowing same day voter registration as the bills stand now (the Albuquerque Journal, Jan. 31). Neither bill requires photo identification of any kind.
The bills are identical, and the language used is misleading. Although a photo ID, utility bill, bank statement, etc., may be presented, it is not necessary. This legislation also allows an individual to register and vote by providing “a verbal or written statement by the voter of the voter’s name, registration address and year of birth; provided, however, that the statement of the voter’s name need not contain the voter’s middle initial or suffix.”
Should either of these bills become law, individuals will be able to go to polling places during early voting, register to vote and cast a ballot without showing any proof of their identities.
Think about what this could mean. Special interest groups on both sides of the political aisle could have their people travel the state, registering and voting, giving names and addresses they make up on the spot. They could hit the same polling places over and over – every time poll workers changed shifts, they could reappear and claim to be somebody else.
Not only would it result in rampant fraud; detection would be virtually impossible.
Already, citizens have reported that they were disenfranchised during the 2008 election. A number of NMSU students, many voting for the first time ever, were told at the polls that someone had already voted for them. This can only be due to the fact that currently New Mexico has no requirement for identification at the polls; one must only recite a name and address to vote.
I appreciate the fact that same-day registration will make it more convenient for our citizens to vote. If a photo ID requirement is added to the legislation, I will wholeheartedly support such an initiative. However, as the bills stand now, we will only ensure that “drive-by voting” will become the crime of the future.
In the meantime, if you are concerned enough about this – or other pending legislation – to ask for an audience with Governor Richardson, make sure you bring a photo ID. It’s a requirement for all visitors to the governor’s office.
Hamilton is a Republican state representative representing District 38.
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Hamilton isn’t focused on same day registration as much as having people identify themselves when they vote. You have to show photo ID to see the governor—to rent a movie—-to check out a library book—–are any of these activities more important than voting? I think not!
If we have same day voter registration with no requirement of identification, we invite those who have no right to vote (people hired by special interest groups is just one example) to travel the state and vote to their hearts content by giving false names and addresses.
The bill currently before the House says that all a voter has to do is state his or her name, address and age. How could anyone deny the probability that some people will lie? How would anyone be able to find the culprits who voted illegally? Who do you prosecute when someone casts a vote that does not represent any qualified voter?
How dare anyone minimize Representative Hamilton’s efforts to clean up our elections into racial and age discrimination rhetoric! Her battle is not for self aggrandizement, it is for the protection of all New Mexicans, old and young, that they might have free and fair elections.
The fraud that our state is known for is an embarrassment to us all. Anyone who doesn’t support photo ID at the polls is either a proponent of election rigging, or so out of touch with reality that they are dangerous.
This is a means to an end. It is meant to cancel out same day register and vote. Had you rather have same day voting without the Photo Voter ID? As a voter registrar it is better than having the same day voting without the Photo Voter ID.
I would sy it is a smart move on Diane’s part.
I absolutely agree that photo ID should be required for same-day voter registration. I have registered many people to vote in New Mexico, and no photo ID is required when I register them. The safeguard is supposed to be that they get their voter ID card mailed to them and if they give a false address it will be returned and the registration cancelled. This is not foolproof either.
The claims by opponents of voter ID that it depresses the turnout of voters, particularly minority voters and the poor and elderly, suffered a blow when a University of Missouri professor published his analysis of what actually happened in Indiana elections after the ID law went into effect Professor Jeffrey Milyo’s review of turnout across the state showed that “overall, voter turnout in Indiana increased about two percentage points from 2002 to 2006; however, in counties with greater percentages of minority or poor voters, turnout increased by even more, although this increase is not statistically significant.” Voter ID had no negative effect on the turnout of voters and the “only consistent and frequently significant effect of voter ID” that Milyo could find was “a positive effect on turnout in counties with a greater percentage of Democrat-leaning voters.”
Dianne Hamilton, a Republican, is trying to pass a bill that has recently been proved to increase Democratic voters, and she should be applauded for that. It appears that there is one legislator who is truly looking out for the people, not her own skin.
See study: The Effects of Photographic Identification on Voter Turnout in Indiana: A County-Level Anlysis
Jeff rey Milyo
Report 10–2007
Revised December 2007
Institute of Public Policy
137 Middlebush
University of Missouri
Columbia, mo 65211
http://www.truman.missouri.edu/ipp
IZU must not understand that voter fraud is happening now. In 2008, no ID was required to vote, and a lot of people had their votes stolen.
Go to this link and see a personal story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cKZmScCRGE
Hamilton is right–we’ve got to try to clean up our elections, not make it worse!
If you read Rep. Hamilton’s post, you would see that she SUPPORTS same day registration. She simply wants a photo ID requirement.
Most of the nine states that have same day registration require some sort of identifier–a resident must show some proof of his or her identity. In New Mexico, HB 123 and SB 161 allow a person to spout off a name, address and age, and they can vote. There is no way to know if that person is lying. Once that vote is cast, there is no way to retrieve it.
With same day registration and zero proof of residency required, you have to be ridiculously naive if you think there will not be busloads of both right and left wing nut groups hitting New Mexico during early voting.
Only someone who wants voter fraud to continue in New Mexico would not support Dianne Hamilton’s stand.
It is no surprise that Hamilton would opppose same day voter registration, but the reasons she gives are disingenious. The scenario she paints, of special interest groups roving the state engaged in widespread fraud are a wild fantasy. Several states already have same day registration and none have observed such practices.
Same day voter registration increases voter participation, sometimes by as much as 10-12% with no increase in the incidence of fraud. The real reason Hamilton opposes this is more likely because same-day registration increases participation by young and minority voters – not exactly her party’s voting base.
You don’t need to take my word for it either, check out this study, done by the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project:
http://www.vote.caltech.edu/drupal/files/working_paper/vtp_wp5.pdf