New Mexico DOJ Voter Data Access Challenge
United States of America v. Toulouse Oliver
An anti-voting lawsuit seeking to compel New Mexico to provide the DOJ with access to its complete statewide voter registration database.
Background
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a lawsuit against Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver for refusing to turn over New Mexico’s full, unredacted statewide voter registration list and related records.
In summer 2025 the DOJ demanded the complete voter file — including voters’ full names, dates of birth, residential addresses, and either driver’s license numbers or the last four digits of Social Security numbers — as part of a nationwide investigation into alleged non-compliance with federal voter list-maintenance requirements under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
The state declined to provide the sensitive personal information, citing state privacy statutes and constitutional authority over elections. The DOJ contends this refusal violates Title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (52 U.S.C. §§ 20701–20705) and is asking the federal district court to order immediate production of the complete voter records.
Why It Matters
This marks the latest escalation in the DOJ’s efforts to obtain sensitive voter registration data from states across the country. In recent months, the DOJ has intensified its demands for voter information as part of a broader, politically charged push aimed at pressuring states to remove voters from the rolls and advancing the Trump administration’s unfounded claims of widespread illegal voting.
The DOJ has now sued 14 states total — California, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington — all of which have refused to hand over unredacted voter files containing highly sensitive personal information.
Latest Updates
- Dec. 2, 2025: DOJ filed its complaint.