thinkprogress.org
By Tanya Somanader
on Jan 4, 2012 at 2:00 pm

New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran (R) is opening the new year with a push for a voter ID bill requiring citizens to provide photo identification in order to vote.

Duran, the first Republican to become New Mexico’s secretary of state in 80 years, secured Gov. Susana Martinez’s (R) agreement to allow the measure to be considered in the new 30-day session.

Arguing that undocumented immigrants are “registering and actually voting in New Mexico elections,” Duran originally insisted that at least 117 noncitizens had registered to vote, with many casting ballots.

However, Duran changed her tune in November, issuing a report stating that “only 19 illegal immigrants had actually voted. And some of these, the report said, might have obtained citizenship by the time they registered to vote.”

Nonetheless, Duran and Republican lawmakers continue to insist that a voter ID bill is necessary to protect against voter fraud.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/201...-the-new-year/