{"id":33895,"date":"2011-11-18T08:37:09","date_gmt":"2011-11-18T15:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=33895"},"modified":"2011-11-20T23:57:21","modified_gmt":"2011-11-21T06:57:21","slug":"report-19-nm-voters-may-be-foreign-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/11\/report-19-nm-voters-may-be-foreign-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: 19 NM voters may be foreign nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Secretary of State Dianna Duran<\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018Invalid votes have been cast,\u2019 states report from Secretary of State Dianna Duran to lawmakers<\/h4>\n

You can read the secretary of state\u2019s report here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A report the secretary of state sent to lawmakers Thursday claims that her office has found 105 registered voters who may not be U.S. citizens, and 19 of them have cast ballots in New Mexico elections.<\/p>\n

That is on top of the two foreign nationals who recently came into Duran\u2019s office to self-report that they were illegally registered to vote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s fewer than the 117 potential non-citizen registrants \u2013 including 37 voters \u2013 that Secretary of State Dianna Duran<\/a> claimed during a legislative hearing in March to have identified. Duran\u2019s office is referring information about the 105 registrants who may be foreign nationals to the attorney general.<\/p>\n

The report is a culmination of months of review by the Secretary of State\u2019s Office of the records of the state\u2019s 1.1 million registered voters, though the report states that efforts to ensure the integrity of the voter file are ongoing.<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s office has identified \u201cthousands of discrepancies, or potential opportunities for voting irregularity and fraud,\u201d the report states. That includes 2,608 voting records that use a Social Security number that\u2019s assigned to two individuals, and six instances where the same Social Security number is assigned to three individuals. It also includes 641 dead people who are still on the voter rolls \u2013 an issue Duran\u2019s office has already revealed publicly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The report takes a critical tone about anyone who would play down what it states is a significant problem in New Mexico:<\/p>\n

\u201cTo those who say that vote fraud (if it does exist) is \u2018insignificant,\u2019 our answer is that no instance of vote fraud, or ineligible registration, or ineligible voting, is now, or ever will be \u2018insignificant\u2019 to this office. Every single vote case by an ineligible voter cancels and invalidates a vote cast by a legal voter, and leaves that law-abiding citizen completely disenfranchised.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No supporting documentation<\/h3>\n

The report includes no supporting documentation to back up its claims. NMPolitics.net has been trying, with little success, to obtain such documentation<\/a> ever since Duran made the claim in March that 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

Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver<\/a> told NMPolitics.net on Thursday that she has also been seeking that documentation since March, and said Duran finally told her this week that she will share it. Until that happens, Toulouse Oliver said it\u2019s difficult to know what to make of the secretary of state\u2019s report.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to comment on something that you don\u2019t have any information about,\u201d Toulouse Oliver said.<\/p>\n

Santa Fe County Elections Director Denise Lamb said she noted, during her cursory reading of the report, that there was \u201cunwarranted criticism\u201d of Toulouse Oliver for not doing more with suspicious voter registration forms submitted by third-party agents. According to the report, Toulouse Oliver forwarded 1,300 voter registration forms to the U.S. attorney, state attorney general, and Bernalillo County district attorney in 2008 because she suspected fraud or other problems with them.<\/p>\n

Duran\u2019s report frequently mentions that her office is \u201cunaware of any attempt by the clerk\u201d to go further by reviewing other registration forms submitted by third-party agents.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe referred them to the U.S. attorney and AG, and more than that, no clerk can do,\u201d Lamb said of Toulouse Oliver. \u201cIt isn\u2019t as if we have subpoena power.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report also states that in 2010 Toulouse Oliver\u2019s office processed more than 100 voter registration applications that lacked a valid Social Security number even though such a number is required.<\/p>\n

Toulouse Oliver told NMPolitics.net that her office\u2019s policy is to set aside forms without valid Social Security numbers and try to contact the potential registrants to obtain that information \u2013 not to process the forms without a Social Security number. She said she requested a list of names Duran\u2019s office claims to have found so she can look into the situation, but has not yet received it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no doubt that there are problems in the voter file. As clerks, we know there are,\u201d Toulouse Oliver said. \u201cI\u2019ve told (Duran) I\u2019m a 100 percent willing participant in this process and I want to help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I feel a little like I\u2019ve been under investigation rather than helping with an investigation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

About those 105 registered voters<\/h3>\n

Duran doesn\u2019t allege in the report that she has identified intentional voter fraud, even with the 19 potential non-citizens who have voted. But she does point out instances of voter fraud in New Mexico\u2019s history, including the 2009 conviction of a former Sunland Park judge<\/a> for fraudulently voting and registering as a candidate for judge.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible that some potential foreign nationals Duran\u2019s office has identified as registered voters \u201cmay have been misled into believing that they were eligible to vote, and may have lacked the intent to violate the law,\u201d Duran\u2019s report states.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can be sure of the intent of these individuals absent the kind of thorough investigation the SOS is currently not staffed to conduct, nor may be authorized to pursue,\u201d the report states. \u201cIt is also possible that non-citizens may have been victims of the same type of identity theft as qualified voters, where a voter registration form was filled out in their names and someone else voted by impersonation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever,\u201d the report states, \u201cit does not change the fact that invalid votes have been cast.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report breaks down information about the 105 registered voters being referred to the attorney general. They include:<\/p>\n