Judge Rules New Mexico Officials Violated Federal Law by Restricting Access to Voter Data

The U.S. and New Mexico flags fly before the upcoming midterm elections in Albuquerque, N.M., on Oct. 1, 2018. Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images

A federal judge has ruled that New Mexico officials violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) by refusing to provide voter data to a conservative-backed group named Voter Reference Foundation.

In a 329-page ruling on March 29, Albuquerque-based U.S. District Judge James Browning said the New Mexico secretary of state’s office and the state’s attorney general had violated the Public Inspection Provision by denying the group’s request for voter data.

The court documents named New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Attorney General Raul Torrez as the defendants.

The ruling states that the Voter Reference Foundation created a “searchable” database online that includes voters’ names, dates of birth, registration addresses, registration dates, party affiliations, registration statuses, precincts, and voting participation histories.

The group said that voter information is required to “provide public access to official government data pertaining to elections, including voter registration rolls,” according to the court’s ruling.

New Mexico election law bans the publication of voter registration data. It restricts the use of the data for political campaigning and noncommercial government purposes.

However, Judge Browning ruled that the system “severely burdens the circulation of voter data among the public” and violates federal disclosure requirements.

“The data sharing ban largely deprives individuals and entities of the ability to engage with disclosed records in such a way that facilitates identification of voter registration-related irregularities and thereby severely limits the extent to which the Public Inspection Provision can contribute meaningfully to furthering the NVRA’s objectives,” he said.

The court also stated that the Voter Reference Foundation “is entitled to reasonable attorney’s fees, litigation expenses, and costs accrued in its prosecution of claims made under the National Voter Registration Act.”

The New Mexico secretary of state’s office is planning to appeal the order, according to agency spokesman Alex Curtas.

In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, the Republican National Lawyers Association praised the ruling as a “win for election transparency” and said that “Democrat attempts to decrease transparency must be challenged every time.”

The Voter Reference database so far includes information from 32 states and the District of Columbia. It is run by Gina Swoboda, an organizer of former President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign in Arizona who was chosen in January as chair of the Arizona Republican Party.

The foundation obtained New Mexico voter rolls through a vendor and first posted the records online in 2021, leading to a referral for potential prosecution. The foundation then took the information offline and sued.

The ruling builds on a federal appeals court ruling in February that Maine must release its voter list to another conservative-backed group, the Public Interest Legal Foundation, which conducts independent audits by comparing states’ voter rolls.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.