A bill to allow voters to register on the same day they vote cleared its first House committee Wednesday. The House, State Government, Elections & Indian Affairs Committee advanced the proposal on a party-line vote. The bill aims to let voters register or update their voter registration during early voting or on Election Day, and vote on the same day. Currently, voters must register four weeks before the election to be eligible to vote. One of the bill’s Democratic co-sponsors, Patricia Roybal Caballero of Albuquerque, said the legislation “is the ultimate access bill to allow voters to access the electoral process as openly as possible.”
The bill would allow new voters to register on Election Day and those already registered to change their address. It would not allow voters to change their party registration in primaries, however.
… The Secretary of State’s office addressed the concern of internet access in the bill’s fiscal impact report, writing that most polling locations in the state print custom ballots for each individual voter, both on Election Day and during the early voting period. These systems check in numerous times throughout the day with state records. But the office plans to implement a real-time system, which “would require that a stable internet connection be available during voting at all polling locations, which is a challenge in many rural locations.
Full Article: Election Day voter registration clears first committee | The NM Political Report.