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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Fox-Young

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/24/08

HB 251

SHORT TITLE Require Voter Identification

SB

ANALYST Ortiz

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Association of County Clerks (ACC)

Secretary of State (SOS)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 251 adds a new section to the Election Code requiring the county clerk to issue, free

of charge, a voter photo identification card if the voter provides appropriate documentation, and

if unable to present required documents, the clerk and county clerk affirm in an affidavit that the

person is registered to vote. If a provisional ballot is cast because a voter did not provide

required voter identification because the voter has a religious objection to being photographed,

the voter shall not be required to submit photo identification and the voter’s ballot shall be

counted.

Next, House Bill 251 amends the meaning of “required voter identification" to an original or

copy of a current and valid photo identification that contains the voter’s name and photo and it

may be a card issued by a government agency, student identification card, commercial

transaction card, such as credit or debit card, an insurance card, union card, professional

association card or a voter photo identification card issued by the county clerk or Secretary of

State.

It also amends Section 1-6-5.7, to state that provisional ballots shall be counted only if (1) the

voter presents to the county clerk no later than three days following election day the required

House Bill 251 – Page

2

voter identification; (2) the voter did not vote elsewhere; and (3) the voter was registered to vote

in the election.

Lastly, it amends the handling of absentee ballot to state that if the required voter identification is

not appropriately included, the ballot shall be placed unopened in an envelope for ballots and a

list of these voters will be posted at the county clerk’s office the first day after election day. The

ballots will not be counted unless the voter provides the county clerk with the required voter

identification within three days after posting of the list and the county clerk determines that the

voter did not vote elsewhere in that election.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The Association of County Clerks points out that this is an unfunded mandate. Costs associated

with implementing provisions of this bill are indeterminate.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Association of County Clerks points out that this is an unfunded mandate; it seems to

disenfranchises voters with limited mobility or homebound; and it would require significant

rework of all Absentee materials needed to comply, with additional postage necessary.

The Secretary of State notes that the question of mandatory photo identification is currently

under consideration by the United States Supreme Court. It would be unwise of New Mexico to

adopt mandatory photo identification before the United States Supreme Court renders its

decision, as this practice or this implementation of this practice may be deemed unconstitutional.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

County Clerk’s Offices do not currently have this type of equipment or training.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Discrimination exists for persons with limited mobility, homebound and Military or Overseas

Voters. This also assumes that copies of identification can be readily available for all voters as

such copies are required of Absentee Voting.

EO/bb