Fed. Judge Slams New Mexico Officials For Discriminating Against Election Watchdog

A federal judge, James Browning, ruled that New Mexico election regulators and prosecutors had engaged in viewpoint-based discrimination and free speech violations against a nonprofit group called Voter Reference Foundation. The group was denied access to voter registration rolls and the matter was referred to state prosecutors. Browning's ruling stated that the state violated public disclosure provisions of the National Voter Registration Act and restricted the use of voter registration data under a state law. The ruling allows the Voter Reference Foundation to expand its free database of registered voters, which can be used by election-integrity watchdogs to identify potential irregularities or fraud. New Mexico prosecutors plan to appeal the court ruling. The VoteRef.com website, run by Gina Swoboda, chair of the Arizona Republican Party, recently restored New Mexico listings to its searchable database of registered voters. The database includes voter information from over 32 states and the District of Columbia. Democrats have claimed that granting conservative watchdog groups access to state voter rolls could lead to voter intimidation, but there is no evidence to support this claim. An audit of Arizona's 2020 election revealed more mail-in ballots were returned than documented as sent out, with the total number of irregularities exceeding the margin by which Joe Biden was claimed to have won the election in Arizona.