In New Mexico, it’s almost impossible to prove voter fraud – and that’s exactly what the Democrat-controlled state legislature wants.

I’ve previously written about what a joke American voter ID and absentee ballot laws are compared to those in Europe, Canada, and Mexico. In brief, Canada, Mexico, and 46 of the 47 countries in Europe require a government-issued photo ID for in-person voting. Mexico goes a step farther by having a thumbprint on the back of its photo ID. For absentee voting, Mexico and 32 of the 47 countries in Europe only permit absentee voting for citizens who reside out of country. The overwhelming majority of the 49 countries require a government-issued photo ID to even obtain an absentee ballot.

And New Mexico? No ID of any kind is required to vote in person. The voter goes to a polling place and tells the poll worker his name. The poll worker then asks for the voter’s year of birth and street address. If everything matches up, that’s it and a ballot is given to the voter. Although the voter signs his signature on an electronic screen, there is no signature verification.

What about getting an absentee ballot? NM will mail an absentee ballot to any registered voter who requests one. No physical ID of any kind is required. One can request an absentee ballot by a phone call to the county clerk or online through the Secretary of State. As long as the applicant knows the registered voter’s name, address, NM driver’s license number, and last 4 digits of his social security number, anyone can obtain an absentee ballot.

Are there any additional safeguards that NM has to ensure that the absentee ballot has been submitted by the real registered voter?  Not really. The most common method to verify that absentee/mail ballots come from the intended voter is to conduct signature verification. When voters return an absentee/mail ballot, they must sign an affidavit on the ballot envelope. When the ballot is returned to the election office, election officials in over half the states have a process for examining each and every signature and comparing it to other documents in their files that contain the voter signature—usually the voter registration record. But NM only requires that the outer envelope containing the ballot be signed and does not verify the signature. (Most states have much tougher absentee ballot laws than NM).

So, what’s the point of this article other than to bash New Mexico? It’s to show the rest of the country what not to do if it wants to have fair elections that can be trusted. I’d suggest the following:

1. To understand the true scope of the cheating problem, I’d recommend seeing 2000 Mules. The movie makes a compelling case, using cell phone meta-data and video from election drop boxes that massive election fraud occurred in AZ, GA, PA, and WI during the 2020 presidential election with absentee voting.

2.  Review what the election laws are where you reside. The National Conference of State Legislatures has some good comparative law information about “voting outside the polling place.”

3. Ask yourselves this question:” How tough is it to catch cheaters where I vote?” If the answer is “almost impossible” then you’ve got a problem and your voting laws need to be changed.

4. Educate people about how weak U.S. voting laws are compared to other countries. Millions of Americans just don’t know how third-world our voting laws are.

I’m not optimistic that voting laws in New Mexico will be tightened up. The last time that Republicans held a majority in both houses of the state legislature at the same time was 1930, and Democrats have held a majority in both houses of the state legislature for 82 of the last 92 years. It’s in their interest to maintain the status quo. To state the obvious, there will be no fundamental change in NM voting laws until there is fundamental political change – and the voters have shown no interest in fundamental political change.

Image: Ron Cogswell via Flickr (cropped).