New Mexico's high court ruled Tuesday that only first-time voters who registered by mail will have to show ID at the polls in November.
Democratic Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron appealed a district court decision that required Chaves County Clerk David Kunko to ask for identification from first-time voters who did not register in person in his office.
The state Supreme Court overruled the decision and ordered Kunko to abide by Tuesday's ruling, which extends to all New Mexico counties.
Kunko, a Republican, said the decision did not surprise him, because the voter ID issue has been a partisan debate for 10 years.
"For me it's not a partisan issue," he said. "It's whether we're following the law or not. Of course we will follow the order today, but I feel like we're not following the law."
The law shouldn't be a matter of convenience, he said, and people should implement a law no matter how difficult it is to enact.
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Pat Rogers, Kunko's lawyer, said the decision was cryptic and he doesn't understand it.
"It allows and aids and abets problems of voter fraud," he said. "Although the statute we wanted enforced is a minor check in that regard, that's what the law said."
Vigil-Giron interpreted a state law in July 2003 to require only first-time voters who register by mail to show ID at the polls, not registrants who signed up with canvassers. More than 112,000 new voters have been registered in New Mexico since then.
Rogers called Vigil-Giron's orders "incredibly partisan," pointing out she contributed $500 to the Kerry campaign.
"This is not the kind of person you want counting votes," he said. "She has a history of abuse for all minority parties, not just Republicans. It is difficult to determine whether incompetence or partisanship is the cause of her decisions."
But Attorney General Patricia Madrid, a Democrat, said in a statement the New Mexico Supreme Court "definitively ruled that the secretary of state was correct in her interpretation of the law."
"This should put an end to the Republican Party's efforts to put obstacles in the way of first-time registrants' right to vote," Madrid said.
Sen. Pete Domenici, a Republican, issued a statement Tuesday saying he is "profoundly disappointed" in the state Supreme Court's ruling. He said he will continue his search for a way to pass his Voter Registration Clarification Act, which would extend federal identification requirements.
New Mexico Democratic Party Chairman John Wertheim said Tuesday's decision was a great victory for voting rights.
"It means newly registered voters, especially students, minorities, rural voters and returning veterans, will not have any obstacles in their voting," he said.
Wertheim said the case was a partisan issue - though it should not have been - because most new voters are Democrats.
"This lawsuit is evidence that President Bush understands that if every vote counts, he won't be president anymore," he said.
District Court Judge Robert Thompson ruled Sept. 8 that changing the requirements 60 days before the election would disrupt the ability of some voters to cast their ballot on Election Day.
Rogers said he and Kunko disagree.
"It would not be disruptive," he said. "But, when you're battling election bureaucrats who do not want to do something, they're going to invent a thousand excuses."
Absentee voting begins Oct. 5.
