SUE MAJOR HOLMES, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A federal judge has ruled New Mexico’s Human Services Department is violating the National Voter Registration Act by not offering a voter registration application with every application for public assistance benefits.
A coalition of advocacy groups sued last year over compliance with the 1995 law, which lets people register to vote at various state agencies.
U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera granted the coalition’s motion Tuesday for a partial summary judgment in the lawsuit filed after Human Services workers did not offer a New Mexico woman a voter registration form.
A section of the federal law requires public assistance agencies to give clients a voter registration form when clients apply for benefits, recertification or a change of address.
Herrera said the Human Services Department does not attach voter registration forms to those applications and does not automatically distribute them.
Rather, the judge said, the agency includes a provision in most benefit application forms asking whether clients want to “register to vote here today.” They receive a voter registration form only if they check yes on that provision.
The judge said that policy violates the federal law, which is aimed at establishing procedures to increase voter registration
A Human Services spokeswoman, Betina Gonzales McCracken, said Thursday department officials had no comment and are reviewing the ruling to determine whether to appeal.
Nicole Zeitler of Project Vote, one of the groups that sued in July 2009, called the ruling a victory for New Mexico citizens, “in particular low-income citizens who should have been offered voter registration forms all along.”
Voting rights groups said it was the first ruling on the issue of clients having to opt in to register. Zeitler said it serves as a notice to other states whose agencies are not giving out voter registration forms unless a client asks for one.
Herrera’s ruling covered the narrow issue of the forms. Zeitler said the case is still set for trial in February on the department’s overall compliance.
The agency “has not to this date created sufficient reforms to be in compliance,” she said. Project Vote tracks voter registrations by state agencies across the country.
The judge denied motions for summary judgment from the department and the secretary of state.
Her ruling noted the Human Services Department contends it is in compliance with the law and that Secretary of State Mary Herrera said her office had different obligations than Human Services and had met those obligations.
Judge Herrera said she could not grant the department’s motion because sufficient questions remain over the need to monitor its future compliance. Her denial of the secretary of state’s motion said that office has obligations to see that state agencies comply with the law.
The secretary of state’s office did not return a call Thursday seeking comment.
The New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, which was originally part of the lawsuit, settled during the summer. Under the settlement, the Motor Vehicle Division, which falls under Taxation and Revenue, must post signs telling New Mexico citizens they can register to vote at MVD offices. The agency also must update its computer systems and websites and monitor compliance.
Read the original Associated Press (via KRQE) story here.