COURTS
Federal judge tosses DOJ suit seeking state voter list
Similar suits have been thrown out in at least 12 other states
Published
Modified
A federal judge in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 dismissed a lawsuit on Tuesday filed by the Trump administration demanding that New Mexico turn over detailed voter registration data to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Judith C. Herrera adds New Mexico to a growing list of states where federal judges have tossed similar suits filed by the DOJ demanding state voter registration rolls and personal voter information.
The DOJ filed the lawsuit in December asking a federal judge to order the state to turn over an electronic copy of New Mexico's voter registration list, including names, dates of birth, addresses and other data.
The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico against Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver by attorneys in the DOJ's Civil Rights Division.
Toulouse Oliver on Tuesday cheered Herrera's decision to toss the suit.
"Federal and state legal guardrails on social security numbers and dates of birth exist for the identity protection of every voter in our state,鈥� Toulouse Oliver said in a statement.
鈥淚 absolutely will not risk any disclosure of voters鈥� private data, as it could carry very real and severe consequences for the personal lives of New Mexicans participating in our democratic process,鈥� she said.
The DOJ's lawsuit alleged that former-U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's office sent a letter to Toulouse Oliver in September seeking information "regarding New Mexico's compliance with federal election law."
The letter demanded a current electronic copy of its computerized statewide voter registration list. Information demanded in the letter included each voter's full name, date of birth, residential address, state driver's license number and the last four digits of the registrant's Social Security number.
Toulouse Oliver responded in a Sept. 23 letter refusing the demand.
Herrera noted in her order that the DOJ sent similar demand letters to 48 states and the District of Columbia.
"After thirty states and D.C. did not comply with the DOJ's request, the DOJ sued each state to compel production," Herrera wrote. "To date, twelve of those cases have been dismissed."
All the DOJ lawsuits alleged that the federal government is entitled to personal voter data under the 1960 Civil Rights Act, the 2002 Help America Vote Act (HAVA) and the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) of 1993.
In her ruling, Herrera found that the DOJ failed to show that New Mexico violated federal laws as alleged in the suit.
"Nowhere does the DOJ articulate any factual suggestion that New Mexico has violated the NVRA or HAVA," Herrera wrote. Nor did the DOJ show that New Mexico has a pattern of noncompliance with the laws, she said.
Olivier Uyttebrouck covers the court system. You can reach him at olivier@abqjournal.com.
