After filing a federal court First Amendment lawsuit back in March against top Democrat officials in New Mexico to ensure the public’s right to view public voter rolls was not blocked, Voter Reference Foundation is celebrating a victory nearly four months later.
Doug Truax, Founder and President of Restoration of America, creator and sponsor of the Voter Reference Foundation (VRF), emphasized VRF's commitment to running fair and accurate elections through nationwide voter transparency.
"We won't be intimidated by politicians who, for some reason, don't want to give the people of their state easy access to election records they pay for," Truax said in a statement. "We’re committed to publishing the voter rolls in all 50 states, so the public can scrutinize the most important function of their government – running fair and accurate elections."
According to a press release, beginning July 26, the VRF will publish the voter registration list again in New Mexico on its VoteRef.com website, where most of the country's voter rolls publicly reside.
A recent federal court ruling that VRF calls "a strong victory for election transparency" allows for the voter rolls in New Mexico to be published after Federal Judge James O. Browning stopped state officials from blocking the publication.
The press release states that Judge Browning cited the First Amendment in granting VRF's request for a preliminary injunction late last week, blocking Democrat Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Democrat Attorney General Hector Balderas from improperly prosecuting VRF.
VRF first posted the voter data for New Mexico online in December 2021 and then removed it in March 2022 after threats from Oliver that publication was illegal. However, the judge concluded Oliver was wrong to say VRF was prohibited from publishing voter data it had already possessed.
"In conclusion, New Mexico's Election Code does not prohibit Voter Reference's publication of voter data online," Judge Browning wrote in his opinion.
Since its establishment in 2021, the VRF has published voter roll data from 29 states and the District of Columbia. The site represents more than half the nation's population and is the first of its kind to grant "citizens the ability to view who is eligible to vote, when they voted, and other basic election data."
"We’re beginning to lift the veil on an opaque system that is riddled with inaccuracies," Truax, who expects more lawsuits in other states, said. "We wouldn't accept a lack of transparency and accuracy in our banking or accounting records -- why accept it when it comes to elections? We will do what it takes going forward to bring election transparency to America."
