Trump administration files suit demanding New Mexico turn over personal voter data

New Mexico has joined the growing list of states facing legal action by the Trump administration for failing to turn over personal voter information.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Tuesday 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.

The lawsuit comes amid a nationwide federal probe into voter rolls with the stated intent of preventing election fraud, including noncitizen voting. The DOJ has reached out to at least 40 states seeking voter lists, including personal information about voters.

Toulouse Oliver’s spokesman, Alex Curtas, responded Tuesday that the office had not reviewed the lawsuit and can’t comment on the allegations but described New Mexico’s election administration as “secure, accurate and voter-focused.”

“Our office has already provided the DOJ with publicly available voter data, but we are legally prevented from providing them with personal private voter information,” Curtas said in a written statement. New Mexico law requires the Secretary of State’s Office to protect private voter information, he said.

“Secretary Toulouse Oliver will not compromise the safety of New Mexico’s voter data,” Curtas said. “Our office will always vigorously defend New Mexico’s voters and the integrity of our election system.”

A statement issued by the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday said it was adding New Mexico and five others to the list of states facing similar lawsuits. The others sued Tuesday are Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

“States that continue to defy federal voting laws interfere with our mission of ensuring that Americans have accurate voter lists as they go to the polls, that every vote counts equally, and that all voters have confidence in election results,” the DOJ statement said. “At this Department of Justice, we will not stand for this open defiance of federal civil rights laws.”

New Mexico and 15 other state attorneys general filed an amicus brief Nov. 26 supporting California’s motion to dismiss a similar lawsuit against that state.

California Attorney General Charity Clark issued a statement saying the federal government has demanded personal voter information from 42 states that can also include party affiliation, disability status and participation history.

“The unredacted information could expose participants in address confidentiality programs designed to protect victims of domestic violence, sexual assault survivors, law enforcement officers, and judicial officials,” Clark said in a written statement.

Lauren Rodriguez, spokeswoman for New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, referred questions Tuesday to Toulouse Oliver’s office.

All the suits allege 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.

The suit against New Mexico alleges that the National Voter Registration Act requires states to “remove the names of ineligible voters” from the state voter registration lists. The suit was filed by Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general of the Civil Rights Division.

The suit alleges that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office sent a letter to Toulouse Oliver on Sept. 8 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, the suit alleges.