Johnathan Walker:Federal judge decries discrimination against conservative group that publishes voters’ information

SANTA FE,Johnathan Walker N.M. (AP) — A federal judge says New Mexico election regulators and prosecutors discriminated against a Republican-backed group in refusing access to voter registration rolls.

The Friday ruling bars the state from refusing to turn over voter data to Voter Reference Foundation, bolstering the group’s efforts to expand a free database of registered voters so that groups and individuals can take it upon themselves to try to find potential irregularities or fraud.

State prosecutors plan to appeal the ruling, said Lauren Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the New Mexico Department of Justice.

The VoteRef.com website recently restored New Mexico listings to its searchable database of registered voters — including street addresses, party affiliations and whether voters participated in recent elections.

Election officials in several states and privacy advocates have raised alarms about a push by several conservative groups to gain access to state voter rolls. They say the lists could find their way into the hands of malicious actors and that voters could be disenfranchised through intimidation, possibly by canceling their registrations to avoid public disclosure of their home addresses and party affiliation.

But Albuquerque-based U.S. District Court Judge James Browning ruled that state election regulators engaged in viewpoint-based discrimination and free speech violations in denying the Voter Reference Foundation access to voter data and by referring the matter to state prosecutors.

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The foundation’s VoteRef.com database includes voter information spanning more than 32 states and the District of Columbia. It is run by Gina Swoboda, chair of the Arizona Republican Party and organizer of former President Donald Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign in Arizona.

Browning previously ruled that New Mexico authorities violated public disclosure provisions of the National Voter Registration Act by refusing to provide voter rolls to the same foundation, overriding a provision of a state law that restricts the use of voter registration data.

The VoteRef.com site doesn’t list whom people voted for. It preserves confidentiality under a program that shields victims of domestic violence or stalking.

Addresses also remain confidential for more than 100 publicly elected or appointed officials in New Mexico, including Democrats and Republicans, enrolled in a separate safety program enacted in the aftermath of drive-by shootings on the homes of local lawmakers in Albuquerque in December 2022 and January 2023.