{"id":33663,"date":"2011-11-08T08:09:58","date_gmt":"2011-11-08T15:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=33663"},"modified":"2011-11-18T07:01:06","modified_gmt":"2011-11-18T14:01:06","slug":"at-least-two-illegally-registered-to-vote-duran-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/11\/at-least-two-illegally-registered-to-vote-duran-says\/","title":{"rendered":"At least two illegally registered to vote, Duran says"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Secretary of State Dianna Duran<\/p><\/div>\n

After months of investigating, Secretary of State Dianna Duran<\/a> has notified the attorney general that her office has identified at least two foreign nationals who were illegally registered to vote, but she says neither appears to have intentionally committed a crime.<\/p>\n

In both cases, the foreign nationals learned that their registration was illegal when they applied for U.S. citizenship. With their illegal registrations impeding their applications for citizenship, both voluntarily requested that their names be removed from the voter rolls.<\/p>\n

One of the two has illegally voted in a number of elections.<\/p>\n

In addition, Duran wrote in her Thursday letter<\/a> to Attorney General Gary King<\/a>, her office has investigated a number of instances in which people who obtained driver\u2019s licenses using foreign national credentials are registered to vote. That \u201ccreates significant concern that they were non-citizens at the time they registered to vote,\u201d Duran wrote.<\/p>\n

And her office has identified a number of registered voters who checked \u201cno\u201d in response to the registration form\u2019s question about whether they are U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n

Duran wrote that she\u2019s awaiting direction from King. Her chief of staff told NMPolitics.net the investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n

\u2018A comprehensive statewide effort\u2019<\/h3>\n

The letter to King is the result of months of investigation by Duran\u2019s office. In March, Duran told a legislative committee her office had matched 117 voter registrations to people in the MVD foreign national database and had evidence of 37 foreign nationals illegally voting in elections.<\/p>\n

This is the same investigation I\u2019ve been trying to scrutinize for months by attempting to obtain the records Duran\u2019s office analyzed before coming to its determination that it had evidence of foreign nationals illegally voting. In the course of that investigation, I\u2019ve accused Duran\u2019s office and the Taxation and Revenue Department of multiple violations of the Inspection of Public Records Act.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m still awaiting a response from the Taxation and Revenue Department on a records request related to the investigation. Read the latest here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Duran wrote in a Friday letter<\/a> to county clerks that her office is \u201csending letters to a number of individuals who appear to have irregularities in their voter information\u201d and said her office \u201cwill be asking that they complete new registration applications.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026one of our goals at the SOS has been to initiate a comprehensive statewide effort that will ensure integrity in our electoral system,\u201d Duran wrote to the clerks. \u201cAmong the procedures to be followed will be the correction of voter files, verification of voter registration, and the identification of ineligible voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018There may not have been any intent to violate the law\u2019<\/h3>\n

In her letter to King, Duran didn\u2019t identify the two individuals who had illegally registered to vote. But she provided details about their situations.<\/p>\n

The first, a man, went to Duran\u2019s office identifying himself as a legal resident but a non-citizen. He said his employer encouraged him to register in 1998. He didn\u2019t believe he was eligible, Duran wrote, but one of his employers brought him a form already filled out with his personal information. He signed it and has voted in almost every local, state and federal election since.<\/p>\n

The second person identified by Duran\u2019s office registered to vote but hasn\u2019t voted. Duran wrote that the woman \u201cwas apparently pressured by a third party to register, although she was uncertain as to her eligibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both ran into problems when they applied for citizenship. The first went to his county clerk\u2019s office to ask to be removed from the voter rolls and went to the Secretary of State\u2019s Office to explain his situation. Duran said he is a 22-year employee of a county government and the primary financial supporter of his family, and he \u201cnow faces concerns that he could be prosecuted or deported.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBased upon his statements and his voluntary visit to attempt to address the violation of the law, it does not appear that this man intended to violate the Election Code,\u201d Duran wrote. \u201cHowever, the statute requires me to report potential violations to you or a district attorney.\u201d<\/p>\n

In mentioning those who checked \u201cno\u201d in response to the citizen question on the voter registration form, Duran wrote that their admission \u201cleads me to believe that, like the specific instances mentioned above, there may not have been any intent to violate the law. Those individuals may have been misled by third party registration agents, or may have misunderstood the law at the time they registered.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am concerned that these specific cases demonstrate that New Mexico\u2019s voter registration process is failing both citizens and non-citizens alike,\u201d Duran wrote. \u201cThe fact that non-citizens are registered, and in some instances voting in New Mexico elections, is detrimental to the integrity of the election process for state, federal and local elections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several have requested that their names be removed from the voter rolls, Duran wrote. She said her office is attempting to contact others.<\/p>\n

The public records question<\/h3>\n

As to the question about whether the documents Duran\u2019s office is reviewing can be released publicly, Duran\u2019s letter to King states that she\u2019s been requesting guidance from his office since March and has \u201cstill not received clear guidance as to such disclosure or non-disclosure.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not what she told NMPolitics.net several months ago. Here\u2019s what I wrote in April<\/a> about a March interview with Duran:<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a call from Duran herself, who told me she couldn\u2019t give me anything because she was advised by the AG to withhold it all.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018We want to be as transparent and open as we can,\u2019 Duran told me, but \u2018with certain advice from our attorney, we\u2019re limited at times.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cShe noted that her office had communicated with the AG via letters. When I asked for those letters she told me she couldn\u2019t release them either, saying it\u2019s \u2018all attorney-client privileged information.\u2019\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

NMPolitics.net is seeking to review voter registration forms \u2013 which are public records \u2013 and drivers\u2019 records \u2013 which are protected but releasable in some instances for research purposes. NMPolitics.net has requested to review the drivers\u2019 records for research purposes only and pledged to not release them publicly.<\/p>\n

The Taxation and Revenue Department is still considering whether to allow NMPolitics.net to review the drivers\u2019 records.<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s office has refused to release voter records it has reviewed in the course of its investigation even though they are public records, saying because they were compared with drivers\u2019 records, such disclosure would reveal personal information about licensed drivers that is protected.<\/p>\n

I am simply attempting to verify Duran\u2019s research independently so I can determine the validity of the claims she\u2019s making as a result of this investigation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After months of investigating, Secretary of State Dianna Duran has notified the attorney general that her office has identified at least two foreign nationals who were illegally registered to vote, but she says neither appears to have intentionally committed a crime.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[142,111,107,225],"class_list":["post-33663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-crime","tag-open-government","tag-roundhouse","tag-voter-fraud"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33663\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}