SANTA FE, N.M. — Today, Common Cause and two New Mexico voters joined the ACLU National Voting Rights Project and the ACLU of New Mexico in filing a motion to intervene in United States of America v. Toulouse Oliver to prevent the Department of Justice (DOJ) from obtaining New Mexico voters’ personal data.   

In July, the DOJ asked New Mexico to turn over voters’ full names, dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers — highly sensitive data that is protected under state and federal law. New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver previously shared only publicly available data in response to the requests but declined to share more sensitive data protected under the law.   

The advocates and voters argue the DOJ’s request threatens voter privacy and could enable voter disenfranchisement. They are represented by attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and ACLU of New Mexico.  

Other voters joining the case include a naturalized citizen from Colombia who moved to the United States to pursue higher education and a formerly-incarcerated advocate who championed New Mexico’s Voting Rights Act. These individuals have an interest in this case because their backgrounds place them at heightened risk of DOJ targeting, a threat that extends to countless other New Mexico voters.  

After federal officials acknowledged in November that the DOJ shared voter information with the Department of Homeland Security to search it for noncitizens, Toulouse Oliver joined a group of 10 other secretaries of state asking the department if it misled them about how voter information would be used.   

The filing highlights the threat that naturalized citizens and persons whose voting rights were restored after a felony conviction face of wrongly being flagged as ineligible voters.  

“Unelected bureaucrats in Washington have no business accessing New Mexicans’ sensitive personal information,” said Molly Swank, Common Cause’s New Mexico Executive Director. “Handing this data over to the federal government violates the law and would put voters’ private information in the hands of dangerous election conspiracy peddlers. Common Cause is fighting to protect the rights of New Mexico voters and to prevent the potential misuse of their data.” 

“Voters in New Mexico and across the country deserve to know their personal information is secure and used only for its intended purpose of maintaining accurate records,” said Maryam Jazini Dorcheh, Senior Director of Litigation at Common Cause. “We are committed to defending voters’ rights and privacy in New Mexico and nationwide, and this case is one of many where we are stepping in to ensure those protections are upheld.”  

“New Mexico voters’ right to privacy is protected by state and federal law, and the federal government is jeopardizing that right by seeking access to their sensitive personal information,” said Megan Keenan, staff attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project. “The Department of Justice’s lack of transparency about safeguards, access, or limits on uses of voter data raises serious concerns about misuse or abuse — including risks that this information could be weaponized to justify aggressive voter purges that wrongfully remove eligible voters from the rolls.” 

“New Mexico voters have a right to privacy in their sensitive personal information, and they have a right to vote free from intimidation and improper challenges,” said María Martínez Sánchez, legal director at ACLU of New Mexico. “The DOJ’s sweeping demand for private voter data—reportedly to build an unauthorized national database and enable mass voter challenges—threatens both rights.” 

Common Cause previously filed a lawsuit in Nebraska to protect state voter data and has joined with the ACLU Voting Rights Project to file motions to intervene as defendants in DOJ lawsuits against Maryland, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota for failing to turn over their voters’ private data. 

To view the New Mexico filing, click here.