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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Trujillo
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
2/19/07
HB 860
SHORT TITLE Same-Day Voter Registration
SB
ANALYST Ortiz
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY07
FY08
NFI
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Attorney General’s Office (AGO)
Association of County Clerks
No Responses Received From
Secretary of State (SOS)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 860 would amend the Election Code (NMSA Chapter 1) to allow persons to register
to vote and then vote on election day. The bill would require precinct board members to provide
and accept registration certificates on election day. It would also require the county clerk to
accept and file such certificates of registration on election day. This type of voter would have to
show a physical form of ID.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
There would be increased costs to county clerks for hiring and training election workers on same
day registration. Additionally, costs for information technology supplies would be incurred.
pg_0002
House Bill 860 – Page
2
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
According to a member of Association of County Clerk’s affiliate, in order to offer same day
voter registration it would be necessary to conduct felony background checks of those wishing to
register on election day. As a result a secure on-line computer is needed at each polling place or
the ability to call a central location where background checks could be done. If large numbers of
people try to register on election day, it will likely result in long lines and long waits for voters.
According to the AGO, this bill would provide for “same-day voter registration" which would
allow citizens to register to vote and vote on election day. Currently eight states allow
registration and voting on election day. Proponents argue that this process increases voter
turnout, opponents argue that the process encourages election fraud, increases expense, and
increases the administrative burden on poll workers. See Connecticut General Assembly Election
Day Registration Report, 2004-R-0970
http://www.cga.ct.gov/2004/rpt/2004-R-0970.htm
Existing law allow a person who is registered by a 3
rd
party agent to get a duplicate copy of
registration and present it as proof of registration. Section 6 may have deleted this process.
PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS
This may influence the Secretary of State’s performance measures to increase number of newly
registered voters.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
It is often difficult for counties to obtain enough manpower to work at the polling places and it
may be challenging to add another responsibility for the workers who are generally not
employees of the county.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
The County Clerk Association’s member suggests concern of felons trying to register and the
potential of people fraudulently going from county to county registering and being able to vote
multiple times. Same day voter registration must be thought through and checks and balances
must be effective and trusted.
ALTERNATIVES
Rather than offering same day registration at each polling location, consider limiting same day
registration to certain sites. This would somewhat reduce human and financial costs to the
counties.
The County Clerk Association’s member offers that if increasing voter registration and turnout is
the bill’s intent, consideration might be given to addressing the language barriers as they relate to
registration and turnout.
pg_0003
House Bill 860 – Page
3
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS
Currently, registering to vote requires felony background check to be conducted, how would this
be accomplished under this legislation.
What is the intended purpose of same day registration. If it is to increase voter turnout, what
statistical data can be cited to support this.
What mechanism would prevent someone from going from one county to the next register on the
same day and voting.
EO/csd