Federal Judge Dismisses DOJ Lawsuit Seeking New Mexicans’ Private Voter Data

U.S. District Judge Judith C. Herrera dismissed a lawsuit Tuesday brought by the U.S. Department of Justice that sought to compel New Mexico to turn over its full, unredacted statewide voter registration list — including voters’ names, dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.

The suit, filed in December 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, named Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver as defendant. It was brought by attorneys in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division after Oliver declined a September 2025 demand letter from the department, citing state privacy law.

In her ruling, Herrera found the DOJ had not shown any legal basis for the demand. “Nowhere does the DOJ articulate any factual suggestion that New Mexico has violated the NVRA [National Voter Registration Act] or HAVA [Help America Vote Act],” she wrote, adding that the department also failed to show a pattern of noncompliance by the state or explain why unredacted personal data was necessary to evaluate compliance.

Secretary of State: “I Absolutely Will Not Risk” Voter Data Disclosure

Toulouse Oliver welcomed the decision in a statement posted to her office’s website:

“I am pleased with the court’s decision to dismiss this case. Federal and state legal guardrails on social security numbers and dates of birth exist for the identity protection of every voter in our state. I absolutely will not risk any disclosure of voters’ private data, as it could carry very real and severe consequences for the personal lives of New Mexicans participating in our democratic process.”

(Full statement: sos.nm.gov)

Part of a Nationwide Pattern

New Mexico’s case is one of roughly 30 lawsuits the DOJ has filed against states and Washington, D.C. since last year as part of a broader push to obtain sensitive statewide voter files. According to Herrera’s own opinion, 12 other such cases had already been dismissed before Tuesday’s ruling.

The same day Herrera ruled, a separate federal judge — Roderick Young, a first-term Trump appointee — dismissed a nearly identical DOJ lawsuit against Virginia, concluding federal law does not require the state to hand over unredacted voter rolls. Together, the two rulings brought the DOJ’s record in these cases to 0–15, according to Democracy Docket.

Courts have now dismissed the department’s suits against Arizona, California, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and now New Mexico. In June, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals became the first appellate court to weigh in, affirming the dismissal of the Michigan case; the DOJ is seeking en banc review of that decision. The department also reached a settlement with Oklahoma, which agreed to turn over its data.

The Brennan Center for Justice, which is tracking the litigation nationwide, reports that at least 16 states have voluntarily provided or agreed to provide their full voter files, including Social Security and driver’s license numbers, while dozens of others have refused or provided only redacted, publicly available versions.

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