House Republicans demand N.J. records on noncitizen voter registrations

Two Republican-led congressional committees are demanding records from the Sherrill administration following the disclosure that a state error improperly placed roughly 6,600 noncitizens on New Jersey’s voter rolls and allowed fewer than 400 of them to cast ballots.

The congressional inquiry was first reported by Fox News.

In a letter sent Monday to Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell, who also serves as Secretary of State, House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wisconsin) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said they have “serious concerns” about New Jersey’s compliance with federal voting laws.

The letter was also signed by House Elections Subcommittee Chair Laurel Lee (R-Florida) and House Judiciary Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis).

“We write to express our serious concerns with New Jersey apparently adding thousands of noncitizens to its voter rolls and to request information from the New Jersey Department of State about its compliance with applicable federal voting laws,” the four lawmakers wrote.

The committee demand escalates an inquiry Van Drew launched last month.

In a July 23 letter signed by seventeen other House Republicans, Van Drew gave Gov. Mikie Sherrill until August 21 to answer twelve questions about how the registration failure occurred, why it was not detected sooner, which elections were affected, and whether any state officials or contractors would be held responsible.

Van Drew, who has the authority to convene hearings and pursue documents through the Judiciary Committee’s subpoena power, also asked whether any election was decided by fewer votes than the number of improperly registered noncitizens who cast ballots in that jurisdiction.

The new letter is addressed to Caldwell, New Jersey’s chief election officer, and seeks records rather than responses to specific questions.  It carries an earlier deadline of August 17.

Sherrill disclosed last month that an error involving the Motor Vehicle Commission’s voter-registration system transmitted information to the Division of Elections for approximately 6,600 people who had specifically indicated they were not U.S. citizens.

The problem occurred between June 2023 and June 2024, during the administration of former Gov. Phil Murphy, and began nearly three years before Sherrill took office.  Sherrill said the software problem was corrected in June 2024 but was not publicly disclosed at the time.

A preliminary state review found that fewer than 400 of those improperly registered cast ballots.  Sherrill has said the registrations occurred through no fault of the individuals involved and ordered their removal from the voter rolls.

The lawmakers questioned the state’s characterization of the problem as a software error, citing a statement from IDEMIA, the MVC contractor, that citizenship responses were recorded correctly and available to the state.

“If the New Jersey government had access to accurate information about the citizenship status of the noncitizens who were registered to vote and were aware of the situation in June 2024, this raises additional questions about Governor Sherrill’s decision to blame IDEMIA, to not remove the noncitizens from the voter rolls, and to not disclose the issue to the public,” they wrote.

The committees are seeking documents concerning New Jersey’s compliance with the Help America Vote Act, the National Voter Registration Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1960.

Their seven-part request includes records detailing safeguards intended to prevent noncitizens from being registered, the discovery and investigation of the MVC problem, communications with IDEMIA and the process used to verify voter-registration information transmitted by outside vendors.

The lawmakers also want records concerning how New Jersey identifies noncitizens who falsely claim citizenship and what they described as the state’s “lack of cooperation” with the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database, known as SAVE.

The committees gave Caldwell until 5 p.m. on August 17 to produce records dating back to January 1, 2023.

The four ranking Democrats on the committees and subcommittees — Joe Morelle of New York, Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Terri Sewell of Alabama and Jasmine Crockett of Texas — were copied on the letter but did not sign it.