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Written by Brad Buck
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No photo ID? No problem.
You just have to give your name, address and birth date, and you can vote in New Mexico.
This means anyone with a phone book can go to the polls and vote illegally in the place of registered voters, according to Hispanos Unidos, a small citizens group formed in Doña Ana County that fights voter fraud in New Mexico.
“New Mexicans are sick and tired of all the fraud in our election process and subsequent corruption in government,” said Victor Contreras, founder and chairman of Hispanos Unidos. “We need fair elections, transparency in government and accountability from our public servants.
“Believe it or not, we keep uncovering more (fraud) almost daily,” Contreras said. “People are coming forward to tell us their stories. It is horrendous and unfortunatly not new. We have suffered for a very long time.”
Hispanos Unidos is pushing the Legislature to require a valid photo ID to vote. The group bases its lobbying effort on what it called voter fraud in the 2008 election in Doña Ana County.
According to www.politico.com, Indiana, Florida and Georgia are the only states that currently require voters to show government-issued photo IDs before stepping into the voting booth.
To further help his cause in New Mexico, Contreras will hold a lunch forum from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 27 at the Santa Fe Association of Realtors, to address “Voter Fraud: Silencing the New Mexican Vote.”
There is no cost to participate. Attendees will learn how they can help curb election fraud in New Mexico as well as sign a support petition that Contreras intends to give the governor and Legislature.
Hispanos Unidos is a nonpartisan, non-ethnic political action committee that was created as a response to what it calls “the broad scale voter fraud in 2008.”
“Election fraud is now rampant in New Mexico,” a statement on the organization’s Web site says. “Our state government has made election laws so lax that, now, our elections are up for sale to any special interest group that has the necessary money and manpower.”
Denise Lamb, deputy clerk in charge of elections in Santa Fe County, said the county has not experienced any instances of voter impersonation.
Additionally, Lamb said, “we were easily able to thwart an attempt (at such fraud) in last spring’s City Council election.”
Lamb is referring to Santa Fe real-estate agent Teresa Monahan, now serving probation after she admitted to voter fraud in the city’s special election over a proposed tax on sales of expensive homes.
While Lamb recognizes some people get away with voter fraud elsewhere in New Mexico, she says paper documentation should allow for proper elections.
“Considering how easy it is to get a fake ID, perhaps this is better,” she said.
Rep. Dianne Hamilton, R-Silver City, took the complaints of Hispanos Unidos to the House floor last March and said she had a list of 46 names of people who voted in the Doña Ana County elections in 2008, and said those people were dead on election day.
Doña Ana County Clerk Lynn Ellins said his office and the state association of counties reviewed the allegations and found all 46 people to have been alive on election day.
Ellins said the most common question at his voter registration desk is, “why don’t you ask for ID when I register?” But he says he doesn’t see photo ID as the magic bullet to prevent voter fraud.
Hamilton proposed a bill last January that would require a photo ID to vote. The bill never made it out of committee last January. Legislators on the panel said that if voter fraud had truly taken place, prosecutors would have pursued the cases.
James Flores, spokesman for the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office — which presides over state elections — said his office will enforce any voter and election-related laws passed by the Legislature.
A different bill — proposed by Rep. Jim Trujillo, D-Santa Fe — did pass the House last January. It allows people to register during the early voting period, which ends three days before an election. Among acceptable forms of identification is a photo ID or a utility bill or a bank statement.
Hispanos Unidos plans to fight the paper documentation bill in the upcoming January session.
In a nutshell, the group supports:
¦ Tougher penalties for voter fraud.
¦ Photo ID at the polls.
¦ Amending the state constitution to allow for referendum — taking issues like tax increases, voter laws and social issues to the people to vote on during elections.
¦ Web cam or television coverage of all legislative committee meetings.
Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, said he sees voter ID as “fringe issue.”
“It’s burden vs. benefit,” Egolf said, adding that under the Hispanos Unidos proposal, the state would require a photo ID — another burden — to people’s right to vote. “Voting is a fundamental right,” he said.
Contact Brad Buck at (505) 629-4408 or
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