Four other states still charge more than $12,000 to receive the voter roll

(Albuquerque, NM) – January 9, 2025: The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) reached a settlement agreement with New Mexico Secretary Maggie Toulouse Oliver in its lawsuit challenging the state’s more than $5,000 fee to obtain the voter roll.

The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) requires states to maintain voter list maintenance records for at least two years and make them available for public inspection with the only fee recognized as “photocopying at a reasonable cost.” Photocopying was not a cost in the Foundation’s request because the Foundation asked for the voter roll in electronic format.

By conditioning the release of the voter roll on payment of excessive fees not authorized by law, Secretary Toulouse Oliver was violating the NVRA. Following the Foundation’s lawsuit, Secretary of State Toulouse Oliver reduced the cost of the voter roll to $600.

“New Mexico’s more than $5,000 fee to obtain a copy of the voter roll served as a roadblock to election transparency,” said PILF President J. Christian Adams. “Not only was the fee excessive, but it also violated federal law that prohibits charging anything other than photcopying costs. This is a win for election transparency.”

Wisconsin, Alabama, Texas, and Virginia charge more than $12,000 to obtain a copy of the voter roll.

The attorneys for the Public Interest Legal Foundation in this case were Noel Johnson and Maureen Riordan.

The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico in February of 2023.

Read the full complaint here. Read the settlement agreement here.

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Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is the nation’s only public interest law firm dedicated wholly to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American elections. PILF has brought lawsuits and won victories in Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and across the United States.