New Mexico Senator William Payne has proposed that the state's election officials consider using biometrics in state elections for voter identification.Payne said that introducing biometric IDs would counter the argument against introducing photo IDs for votes. Opponents say that photo IDs lead to so-called “voter suppression”, because minority, handicapped and elderly voters who do not normally maintain driver's licenses.”This could put to rest the criticism that voters cannot afford to produce reliable photo identification when they vote,” Payne said. “Everyone has an eyeball or thumb that could be scanned for identification. No need to produce a photo ID.”Oklahoma last year proposed legislation that would require fingerprint images to be stored on future voter ID cards to include photos as well as, but the measure stalled in committee.”Voter ID is a perennial question,” Wendy Underhill with the National Conference of State Legislatures told the Associated Press. “The idea about working with biometrics is a relatively new idea.”
New Mexico lawmaker calls for biometric state elections
