In a major legal development, a federal court has ruled that New Mexico must allow a conservative group to publish voter registration data online in a move toward transparency and election integrity.
U.S. District Judge James Browning in Albuquerque decreed that the conservative-leaning Voter Reference Foundation LLC is legally entitled to access information from the state’s voter rolls. This marks a setback for the Secretary of State’s office, which had sought to prevent the release based on a federal election transparency law.
The Secretary of State’s office, led by far-left Democrat Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, disagreeing with Judge Browning’s decision, plans to challenge the ruling at the 10th Circuit Court and will seek to suspend the ruling’s effect during the appeal process.
The dispute centers on the foundation’s intention to post detailed voter data on its website, including names, addresses, and birth years. The foundation, led by Gina Swoboda, a former Trump campaign official and current chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party, asserts its mission is to bolster voter engagement across all states.
“The Voter Reference Foundation is dedicated to ensuring transparent, accurate and fair elections in the United States of America. The purpose of this website is to provide educational information about how our elections process works and how elections data is compiled and maintained nationwide,” the group’s website states.
Judge Browning’s ruling aligns with similar federal court decisions, reinforcing the precedence set by the National Voter Registration Act over state-level restrictions on voter data dissemination. This ruling comes amidst ongoing legal battles in other states like Pennsylvania and Maine, where attempts to safeguard voter information from online exposure have faced legal challenges.
In response to the ruling, Alex Curtas, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s office, claims the court’s acknowledgment that the state’s restrictions on voter data usage do not infringe on First Amendment rights and were not applied in a retaliatory manner against the Voter Reference Foundation.
The case, dating back to 2022, saw the foundation initially post New Mexico voter data online, which was subsequently removed following objections from state election regulators. The foundation’s legal action against the state argued that the pushback constituted unconstitutional retaliation and infringed on First Amendment rights.
The publicly accessible voter information in New Mexico does not include sensitive personal details such as Social Security numbers or precise birthdates, nor does it cover participants in the state’s Safe At Home Program for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.
However, the foundation’s use of voter data from April 2021 means that any changes to voter registration status after that date will not affect the information available on their website.
Although Toulouse Oliver previously touted a leftist MIT study, claiming New Mexico had some of the best election administration in the country, the Voter Reference Foundation ranks New Mexico’s elections at the bottom of the nation, with a “D” rating. See New Mexico’s ranking on the group’s website here.
More crupt elected officials being caught in lies! Voters are watching andnots about time!
Recall Oliver!!! We must have a fair election!!! Voter ID! VOTE RED!!!! FLIP NM TO RED!!!
Just another DemonRat that was caught. Hope it comes back to bite her big time.
Good luck with that appeal. Judge Browning takes a looong time to write his decisions and does a very good job just so he won’t be overturned on appeal.
She is absolutely one of the most odious turds in all of New Mexico state government today. The good news is, it is extremely unlikely she will ever be elected to another political office after her current term as SOS concludes, so we won’t have to suffer her corrupt, hyper-partisan and ultra-liberal conduct for too much longer.
So true! I can smell her rancid stench all the way down here in Alamogordo.
New Mexico continuall ranks in the bottom 3 in education nationally. The Democrats have been the dominating power since the 30’s. Seems quite coincidental no?
It looks like Steve Pearce needs to sue her again. She has been trying to change the voting laws in NM during her entire career as SOS. Change them, not just campaigned to change them. She has threatened county election boards with jail (like Otero) when they wouldn’t certify fishy elections.
The trick is making sure she doesn’t get re-elected. Anyone who took even a quick look at her background would know that she is a rabid “activist” of the Indivisible/ACORN variety. Just her “activism” should be a flag for conflict of interest and disqualify her from holding a public office.
Thank you Judge Browning for taking the side of the Law and not playing politics. There’s still hope among those who preside in our highest courts.
Our elections deserve an F, there is data that shows Lujan’s numbers increased in all counties at the same time the same amount. Explain that.
This is good. This will finally purge those born in the 1800’s…that’s only half a joke. This transparency will also identify people who have moved away long ago if someone wants to do the tedious work to identify them. Even the minimal information that’s being discussed would help immensely to clean up the voter rolls.
Fractal computing can analyze this data in hours and help with the purge based on “real” physical addresses, weeding out the fake registrations.
The trick is making sure she doesn’t get re-elected. Anyone who took even a quick look at her background would know that she is a rabid “activist” of the Indivisible/ACORN variety. Just her “activism” should be a flag for conflict of interest and disqualify her from holding a public office.
Voter fraud equals treason. Treason is punishble by death. She should be in GITMO along with the treasonous dictator witch of a GOV.
What a joke this state is. Since 2020…I have received mail in ballots for for my ex wife who has not lived in NM since 2015.
I would like to know how we can make an example of the fraud by getting that ballot counted and then publicizing it….without rendering myself vulnerable to being charged with a crime.
Surely there are tens of thousands of you out there who are in the same situation and we just need to get together and beat them at their own game and expose it all.
Can we get illegals to sign the applications and vote for Trump.
I mean…they got away with it for the past 3 elections…why can’t we to prove the point. There’s gotta be a way.