Republicans call for immediate suspension of New Jersey’s motor voter law

Three Republican lawmakers called for the immediate suspension of the state’s motor voter law until an investigation determines how thousands of non-citizens were erroneously registered to vote and whether the problem has been fully corrected.

State Sens. Declan O’Scanlon (R-Little Silver) and Assemblywomen Vicky Flynn (R-Holmdel) and Dawn Fantasia (R-Franklin) said the state should stop processing automatic voter registrations through the embattled Motor Vehicle Commission to prevent additional ineligible applicants from reaching the voter rolls.

“Until we can ensure that there is not an ongoing problem — we believe there very well might be because the same system is in place — and the honor system is absolutely a problem, it should be suspended, said O’Scanlon.

Fantasia said motor voter is another indication of a broken system.

“It completely needs to be halted immediately, and I think it’s going to be quite a while before we can trust that that system is working the way it was intended to work,” she said.  “I think it’s going to be quite a while before we can trust that that system is working the way it was intended to work.”

The demand follows Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s disclosure that an alleged software error caused roughly 6,600 non-citizens to be registered between June 2023 and June 2024, even though they had identified themselves as non-citizens while obtaining driver’s licenses or identification cards.

Fewer than 400 of those individuals ultimately cast ballots.

Republicans said registrations should not resume until the state completes a comprehensive investigation, determines precisely where the system failed and assures the public that non-citizens can no longer be placed on the rolls.

They also questioned whether the failure was limited to the one-year period identified by the Sherrill administration.

Hanlon said that suspending motor voter alone would not resolve all vulnerabilities in New Jersey’s registration system.  Her review also found cases in which non-citizens registered using paper forms.

“The problem is the verification and the honor system rather than an actual process,” Hanlon said. “Going back to the paper doesn’t necessarily solve the problem.”

But Republicans said the state should at least stop using a registration system already known to have produced thousands of erroneous registrations until officials can determine what happened and certify that it has been fixed.

“We know it’s indicative of a broken system,” Fantasia said. “We have to fix it.”

Hanlon, who also serves as the Monmouth County clerk, said the state GOP’s Election Integrity Task Force obtained public records showing that non-citizens were registered through the MVC before June 2023. Some later voted.

One non-citizen was registered in April 2023, two months before the administration’s timeline begins; another was registered in March 2022. Hanlon said another individual had been registered since before 2000 and had a voting history extending from November 2000 through November 2022.

Other cases involved registrations in 2019, 2020 and 2022.

“This one-year time period is not the only time period non-citizens had access to New Jersey’s voter rolls,” Hanlon said.

The GOP obtained records from roughly half of New Jersey’s counties and found “hundreds” of cases involving non-citizens who asked election officials to remove them from the rolls. Hanlon did not provide a precise total or say how many of those individuals had voted.

The records represent a limited pool because they identify only non-citizens who voluntarily disclosed their status and requested removal, often after learning that voter registration could create problems during green card or naturalization proceedings.

State Sen. Michael Testa (R-Vineland) disputed the administration’s characterization of the registrations as the result of a software glitch.

He said an individual associated with IDEMIA, the state’s digital identity vendor, told him that applicants who answered “no” to the citizenship question were not incorrectly marked as citizens in the company’s database.

“What happened is you had individuals who presented at the Motor Vehicle Commission to get a driver’s license, and they self-identified as non-citizens,” Testa said. “This was not a software glitch. This was a glitch at the Division of Elections.”

IDEMIA has maintained that no non-citizen was marked as a citizen in its database. That account raises questions about whether the failure occurred when the MVC transmitted the records, when the Division of Elections received them, or when they were processed elsewhere in the state’s registration system.

Republicans said an executive-branch investigation commissioned by Sherrill is insufficient and called for a special legislative committee with subpoena power, sworn testimony and public hearings.

All 23 Assembly Republicans and all 15 Senate Republicans have separately asked Democratic legislative leaders to convene hearings.

Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin has said he intends to await the administration’s investigative report before considering legislative action, a position Republicans criticized as an abdication of the legislature’s oversight responsibility.

“We need testimony to be under oath. We need subpoena power. And we need every tool available to uncover the truth,” said Assemblywoman Vicky Flynn.  “An internal report prepared by a law firm retained by the administration is not a substitute for independent legislative oversight.”

Upcoming elections

The approaching election calendar adds urgency to the Republican demand.

Vote-by-mail ballots for September 15 special school elections are scheduled to go out next month.  Flynn said officials should immediately review the rolls in the affected municipalities and did not rule out postponing an election if the state cannot establish that only eligible voters will receive ballots.

“If that’s the only option, sure,” Flynn said.

Cinnaminson, Roselle, Cedar Grove, and the Morris School District, which includes Morristown and Morris Township, have special school elections scheduled.

Counties are scheduled to begin mailing vote-by-mail ballots for the November general election on September 19.  Federal law also imposes a deadline for sending ballots to military and overseas voters.

Flynn said she had “absolutely no confidence” that the administration’s investigation would be finished before those deadlines.

Hanlon said the recent events validate national Republican concerns about noncitizen voting.

“Republicans have warned for years that the New Jersey voter registration system has serious flaws, allowing noncitizens to register and vote in New Jersey elections,” she said.  “Republicans were called conspiracy theorists, fear mongers and similar names by design, not by glitch.  Noncitizens for years have had access to New Jersey’s voter rolls and have voted in New Jersey elections.”