The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced it has filed federal lawsuits against New Mexico and other states for failure to produce their statewide voter registration lists upon request.
Source: Department of Justice
Image: Courtesy White House
WASHINGTON – Today, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division announced it has filed federal lawsuits against six states — Delaware, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington — for failure to produce their statewide voter registration lists upon request.
“Accurate voter rolls are the cornerstone of fair and free elections, and too many states have fallen into a pattern of noncompliance with basic voter roll maintenance,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Department of Justice will continue filing proactive election integrity litigation until states comply with basic election safeguards.”
“Our federal elections laws ensure every American citizen may vote freely and fairly,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “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. At this Department of Justice, we will not stand for this open defiance of federal civil rights laws.”
According to the lawsuits, the Attorney General is uniquely charged by Congress with the enforcement of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which were designed by Congress to ensure that states have proper and effective voter registration and voter list maintenance programs. The Attorney General also has the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA) at her disposal to demand the production, inspection, and analysis of the statewide voter registration lists.
Response: Office of the New Mexico Secretary of State
The Trump administration continues its assault on free and fair elections and wants access to New Mexicans’ personal private voter data, and the weaponized Justice Department is now suing Secretary Toulouse Oliver over it.
The problem is: We have already made available to them the public data federal law requires. They are seeking access to sensitive data that’s simply not needed to comply with voter list maintenance and which is protected by state law.
Secretary Toulouse Oliver will not compromise the safety of New Mexico’s voter data. Our office will always vigorously defend New Mexico’s voters and the integrity of our election system.
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