As New Mexico scrutinizes its voter ID requirements, Richard PÇrez brings a film that looks at voting procedures nationwide to UNM.
"Unprecedented" will be shown at the Southwest Film Center and is designed to re-ignite a fire under Democrats and make Republicans take an honest look at their party's actions, according to the Web site.
PÇrez co-produced the film with Joan Sekler. It will be shown in the film center on the lower level of the SUB at 2 p.m. Afterward, PÇrez will host a question-and-answer session.
He said the documentary takes a nonpartisan, unbiased look at the 2000 Florida debacle, scrutinizing the role of Republicans and Democrats in the voting process.
"Eligible voters should not face obstacles when getting to the polls," PÇrez said.
But there is a tradition of Republicans actively suppressing voter turnout for antidemocratic reasons, he said.
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"It appears that the Republicans are genuinely not interested in including and encouraging all legitimate voters to turn out at the polls," he said. "They know the majority of people who are not voting now are more likely to vote for a Democrat."
PÇrez said what happened in Florida exemplifies Republican voter-suppression efforts.
"What we saw in Florida was a deliberate campaign to stifle Democratic turnout" by opposing the Motor Voter Act, intimidating voters at polling locations and manipulating voter databases, he said.
Congress passed the Motor Voter Act in 1993. It requires states to provide voter registration assistance to eligible voters applying for or renewing their driver's license.
PÇrez faults both major political parties for dismissing or opposing election reforms and said the Help America Vote Act, an elections reform law President Bush signed in 2002 is "window dressing" that leaves most voting-system problems intact.
"It's broken, and they don't want to fix it," he said.
Voting is especially important for college students, he said.
"You want your Pell Grant? Vote," he said. "You don't want to pay off the national deficit? Vote. You want social security to be around when you're retired? Vote."
PÇrez is on the Rock Against Bush Tour, a group of punk bands that will play the Sunshine Theatre at 7 p.m. tonight. From Albuquerque, the tour will travel to Ohio.
