Voter ID To The Future

A Republican state senator wants to take a different look at the contentious idea of requiring voters to present photo IDs at the polls.

Senate Minority Whip Bill Payne, R-Bernalillo, introduced a Senate memorial today calling on the state to study the feasibility of using biometrics like thumbprints and eye-scan technology to identify voters at the polls and prevent voter fraud. He says he got the idea after hearing "years and years about whether or not any effort to have photo ID or other identification measures suppresses the vote."

"I thought I'd shake it up a little because I recently got an iPhone that uses a thumbprint identification that only I could open it instead of having to use a password or any other code to get into it," Payne says in a video statement provided to SFR by the Senate Republican Leadership office (he had already left the Roundhouse when we tried to reach him this afternoon).

Though it may seem like an expensive idea that could expand state government to new depths, Senate Republican spokeswoman Diane Kinderwater says Payne believes the technology can reduce the price of voting.

The photo voter ID issue is expected to go far this legislative session with the recent Republican takeover of the state House of Representatives, a Democratic-controlled Senate full of political moderates and a Republican governor. But that doesn't mean it won't generate controversy. Many Democrats argue that voter ID is nothing more than a ploy that disenfranchises voters.

It's unclear how much Payne's alternative idea would cost, or how seriously it will be taken even if it passes this session. Memorials aren't required to be enforced and instead are taken as recommendations from state lawmakers. Likewise, Duran has been outspoken in her support for a law requiring photo IDs at the polls.

But the technology Payne wants studied is used in some parts of the world.

Venezuela, a country not exactly known for being a conservative bastion, requires thumbprints in its elections. Some international election-monitoring groups widely praise the efficiency of country's voting system, though opponents of its left-wing government criticize the scanning technology as intimidating.

Santa Fe Reporter