House Republicans have subpoenaed Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration for records involving the improper registration of approximately 6,600 noncitizens, accusing state officials of withholding documents and demanding to know why the registrations remained on New Jersey’s voter rolls until 2026. The move comes less than two weeks before an election that will determine control of Congress.
The sweeping subpoena, obtained by the New Jersey Globe, escalates a confrontation between Sherrill and four Republican congressional leaders, including Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis), who say the state has produced just 12 documents despite nearly three months of requests.
Sherrill, who inherited the voter registration problem from former Gov. Phil Murphy, has accused Republicans of exploiting the controversy for political gain and maintains that her administration acted promptly to correct the errors.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) signed the subpoena, giving Acting Secretary of State Shirley Emehelu until November 16 to turn over the records. Republicans want more than an explanation of the MVC’s software failure. They’re also seeking documents on how New Jersey enforces federal election laws, checks citizenship, removes ineligible voters from the rolls, and deals with the company that provides the MVC’s voter registration software.
House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wisconsin), Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Florida), who chairs the House Elections Subcommittee, and Van Drew, chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, joined Jordan.
The subpoena and accompanying correspondence were directed to Emehelu through Hecker Fink LLP, a Washington law firm representing the New Jersey Department of State. Joshua Matz, a partner at the firm, has negotiated with congressional investigators over document production and the state’s claims of legal privilege.
From June 2023 through June 2024, a software error at the MVC registered people to vote even though they answered “no” when asked if they were U.S. citizens. The glitch was fixed in June 2024, but the registrations remained on the voter rolls until Sherrill’s administration disclosed the problem in July 2026 and began correcting it.
Officials subsequently deleted about 5,100 registrations, flagged another 1,450 for county review, and found that roughly 340 people registered through the glitch had cast ballots.
Sherrill said she learned of the problem shortly before its public disclosure and immediately ordered an investigation and the removal of improperly registered voters. She appointed former Republican U.S. Senator and New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa to lead an independent review.
“My Administration has continued to move aggressively to fix the error at the Motor Vehicle Commission under the previous administration, to correct our voter rolls, and to protect the voting rights of eligible New Jerseyans,” Sherrill said in an August statement.
In an October 21 letter accompanying the subpoena, the four Republicans accused the Department of State of failing to explain when officials first discovered the registration errors, what steps were taken to investigate them, and why the affected registrations remained on voter rolls until 2026.
The department “has not produced any documents that explain how the alleged software error resulting in the registration of noncitizens was discovered or why noncitizens remained on the voter rolls until 2026,” the lawmakers wrote.
Congressional Republicans first sought the records on August 3, asking for information about the MVC error and New Jersey’s compliance with federal election laws. Two weeks later, on August 17, the state’s lawyers agreed to focus first on records showing how officials discovered the glitch and what they did to remove the improper registrations. The committees said they agreed to narrow the initial request to speed up document release.
According to the committees’ October 21 letter, the state initially turned over four documents on August 28, two of them already publicly available. Five more followed on September 11, including two meeting invitations, an email to state and county election officials, and a one-paragraph memorandum from Sherrill directing then-Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell to address the problem.
The memorandum was dated August 4, after the administration had publicly disclosed the registration errors.
On September 18, the state produced three additional emails from IDEMIA, the contractor responsible for the MVC’s voter registration software. The committees said those concerned the vendor contracting process rather than the registration errors themselves.
According to the congressional letter, during discussions with investigators on September 28 and October 6, the state’s lawyers said attorney-client privilege, attorney work product protections, executive privilege, or deliberative process privilege might protect some records.
The Republicans contend that the state failed to identify which documents it withheld, explain how the privileges applied, or provide a timetable for additional production.
“Without additional details, it strains credulity to believe that every document responsive to the Committees’ request that has not been produced is privileged or that the privileges are being appropriately invoked,” the lawmakers wrote.
Asserting legal privilege does not itself establish wrongdoing, but the lawmakers contend the state has failed to provide enough information for Congress to evaluate whether the privileges apply.
“The Department’s refusal to engage with specificity has unnecessarily impeded the Committees’ oversight and significantly delayed the production of responsive documents,” the lawmakers wrote.
In a statement today, Sherrill said she was “focused on governing effectively” and on”keeping New Jersey’s elections free, fair, and secure and driving down costs for New Jerseyans.”
“Republicans in Congress clearly aren’t,” she said. Instead of actually doing anything to make our elections safer or addressing issues Americans care about, like skyrocketing prices, Washington Republicans are choosing to play political games just thirteen days before the midterm elections.”
Sherrill said she has kept her promise that “when we discover a problem, we communicate the facts and fix it – and I meant it.”
“From the moment we discovered the MVC registration issue from 2023, we took action immediately, went above and beyond in making agency-wide reforms, and have been transparent every step of the way. We did this so that New Jerseyans can feel confident that we are running the strongest and fairest election in our country,” Shrrill stated. :This stands in stark contrast to Trump and his enablers, like Jeff Van Drew and Jim Jordan, who are using their congressional committee not to do the work of the people, but for political theater. That is what this subpoena is, plain and simple.”
Subpoena seeks broad review of New Jersey election procedures
The subpoena covers eight areas, ranging from the MVC software glitch to how New Jersey registers voters and keeps its voter rolls up to date.
Republicans are seeking records showing how the state complies with three federal laws: the Help America Vote Act of 2002, the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, and the Civil Rights Act of 1960. They also want to know what safeguards prevent noncitizens from registering, how the Division of Elections and MVC handle violations of federal law, and what responsibilities compliance staff has.
The second category seeks records about the software errors and any instances in which noncitizens may have been deliberately registered to vote.
The third category seeks records on the discovery of improper registrations, including investigations into how the errors occurred.
The fourth seeks documents supporting the state’s determination that the registrations resulted from accidental software errors, including feedback from the software vendor.
The fifth demands records of New Jersey’s procedures for verifying voter registration information transmitted through third-party vendors, specifically including IDEMIA.
The sixth category deals with how New Jersey identifies noncitizens on its voter rolls and removes their registrations. Republicans also want records showing how the state handles cases where someone falsely claims U.S. citizenship when registering to vote or conducting business at the MVC.
The seventh focuses on what the Republicans describe as New Jersey’s lack of cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, known as SAVE, which can be used to check citizenship or immigration status.
The eighth demands communications between New Jersey officials and the vendor responsible for the MVC voter registration software.
The subpoena also requires the state to preserve responsive records, identify documents withheld under claims of privilege, account for missing or destroyed records, and certify that a diligent search has been conducted. It covers electronic communications, internal memoranda, drafts, and records held by contractors.
Sherrill has previously accused Van Drew and congressional Republicans of using the registration errors for political gain, noting that several lawmakers demanding records had challenged the 2020 presidential election results.
In a statement, Van Drew said the committee has “given Governor Sherrill’s administration every opportunity to provide answers, and they have failed to do so.”
Thousands of people told the state they were not American citizens, yet they were registered to vote anyway. Hundreds actually voted. The state knew about this failure in 2024, and somehow these registrations remained on the rolls for nearly two years,” Van Drew said. “We started with letters, we asked straightforward questions, and we pursued congressional oversight. Instead of getting answers, we got political attacks and a handful of documents that explain next to nothing. If it was simply a software glitch, then show us the evidence. Who knew about it? Why wasn’t it fixed sooner? And what about people who may have falsely claimed to be citizens and were never independently verified?”
She also argued that federal legislation requiring additional proof of citizenship would not necessarily have prevented the MVC error because the affected individuals had already indicated they were not citizens.
The governor has criticized the federal SAVE database, which the subpoena specifically mentions, warning that inaccurate citizenship information could incorrectly identify eligible voters as noncitizens.
On October 7, Sherrill announced that her administration’s broader review had uncovered about 1,090 additional voter registration records that require correction or investigation. Those included 750 records involving age-eligibility responses and 340 potentially improper registrations connected to MVC prison re-entry events dating back to 2016. Neither category involved noncitizens.
The administration also announced new safeguards, including daily audits that compare MVC customers’ recorded responses with voter registration information before transmitting it to election officials, additional language assistance, and plans to replace IDEMIA as the agency’s technology vendor.
IDEMIA has disputed responsibility for the software malfunction, maintaining that its system accurately recorded applicants’ responses.
The dispute over access to election records extends beyond Congress. In September, the Republican National Committee sued New Jersey seeking voter registration information, while Sherrill’s administration defended its refusal to provide personally identifying voter information to federal officials.
The congressional subpoena does not require Emehelu to testify, but it compels her to produce documents at the House Judiciary Committee’s offices in Washington by November 16, nearly two weeks after the November 3 congressional elections.
This story was updated at 1:07 PM with comment from Van Drew.
