From the Santa Fe New Mexican: New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran has turned over about 64,000 cases of what she calls possible voter fraud to the State Department of Public Safety for investigation.
That's more than 10 percent of the 607,700 people who voted in the 2010 general election in New Mexico -- and it's way more than the 37 cases of foreign nationals illegally voting that Duran mentioned at a legislative hearing earlier this year, the newspaper reported.
Duran mentioned the 37 cases of illegal voting while testifying in favor of a bill that would have required voters to show photo identification at the polls before casting ballots. She said at the time that in cross-checking voter registrations with a state Motor Vehicle Division database, her office had found 117 foreign nationals who had registered to vote. All of these, she said, had listed Social Security numbers on voter-registration forms that didn't match up with their names. At least 37 of those actually voted in state elections, Duran said at the time.
Duran's office admits that some of the 64,000 cases could turn out to be the result of clerical errors rather than criminal wrongdoing.
New Mexico's Voter ID bill, supported by Duran and Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, was tabled in mid-March.
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