A bill that aims to establish a requirement that voters show photo ID when they come to the polls was heard for about an hour and a half Saturday (March 12) but since not all members of the House Voters and Elections Committee were able to ask questions of the bill’s sponsor — Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R-Carlsbad) — before going to a scheduled House floor session, a vote was put off until Tuesday (March 15).
House Bill 577 is a priority of Secretary of State Dianna Duran – who sat next to Brown Saturday before the committee — and is supported by Gov. Susana Martinez.
A similar bill was turned away earlier this session (click here for that story) when a number of Democrats on the committee said they had a numbe of concerns, including how to handle absentee ballotting.
Brown’s bill tries to answer that question by requiring absentee voters to enclose a photocopy of a valid ID with their ballots.
While Republicans have charged that Democrats are dragging their feet on the issue (click here for that story), Rep. W. Ken Martinez (D-Grants) told Brown, “This bill is better [than the earlier bill]. It’s not perfect but it is better … I think we’re putting the pieces.”
The committee is made up of seven Democrats and six Republicans.
But time is running out on the bill ever becoming law. Even if the bill should make it through the committee on Tuesday, there will be just four days left in the current 60-day session.