NewsWest.com: Federal judge approves New Mexico voting rights settlement

"A federal judge has approved a consent order aimed at ensuring New Mexicans have a chance to register to vote at public assistance offices.
The consent order outlines procedures state Human Services Department officials must follow to offer voter registration forms to people applying for public assistance benefits. ...
A coalition of voting rights groups sued in July 2009 over compliance with the National Voter Registration Act, which lets people register to vote at various state agencies."

The entire article, without commenting, is at http://www.newswest9.com/Global/story.asp?S=14157931 

A hat tip to Voting News.

Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights Under Law: Victory in New Mexico Voter Registration Case

"On February 24, 2011, U.S. District Judge Judith Herrera signed a Consent Order resolving litigation brought by the Voting Rights Project challenging the failure of the State of New Mexico to implement the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) at the State's public assistance offices.  Valdez v. Duran (D. N.M.).   The Order requires the State to implement specific procedures to ensure that thousands of New Mexico citizens will be accorded the opportunity to register to vote when applying for and renewing their public assistance benefits, and also when submitting a change of address for benefits purposes.  The Order further requires that the State conduct voter registration training for public assistance employees and regularly monitor implementation of the Order."

The entire article including related documents, but without commenting availability, is at http://www.lawyerscommittee.org/projects/voting_rights/page?id=0104 

Hat tip to Election Law blog.

New Mexico passed one of this nation's most restrictive voter registration laws

We periodically receive newsletters from a wide variety of government reform news sources; the organizations focus on only the major events within their respective areas of expertise. Here is a selection from a recent email newsletter:
From Brennan Center for Justice
http://bit.ly/3OSNjA

Friends,

I wanted to keep you all in the loop regarding an important filing we made this morning. The Brennan Center brought a lawsuit against the state of New Mexico. We did this because the state passed one of the most restrictive voter registration laws in the country, one with such severe penalties that it threatened to shut down voter registration drives and disproportionately block minorities from voting in the 2008 election.

You can find the press release and filing here.

And a link to the mention on Politico here.

This is just one clear example of why our country needs universal voter registration: to make democracy work better and to ensure political operatives can't shut eligible citizens out of the process.

Please help us spread the word. If you have friends in New Mexico, let them know we're working on their behalf. Forward this email. Ask them to sign up for our Voter Registration Action Network -- they should understand what's at stake -- and help us with this push to make voter registration a key part of our national agenda. We'll need people on the ground, in the state, ready to reach out to bloggers and pen letters to newspapers -- we won't be able to do it alone.

Here is the link for our Voter Registration Action Network.

Thank you for passing this along. Remember, if laws keeping people from the polls can be passed there, they can happen anywhere.

Sincerely,

signature

Thaddeus Kromelis

Brennan Center for Justice | Web, Communications & Strategy

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