Senate Republicans are seeking to end automatic voter registration at the Motor Vehicle Commission and require voters to show identification at the polls following revelations that thousands of noncitizens were improperly registered to vote because of an MVC software error.
Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco and State Sen. Kristin Corrado (R-Totowa) introduced legislation Monday that would also require independent audits of New Jersey’s voter rolls twice a year.
The bill, S-4616, comes after Gov. Mikie Sherrill disclosed in July that an MVC software error registered roughly 6,600 people who identified themselves as noncitizens to vote between June 2023 and June 2024. State officials have said hundreds of those individuals subsequently voted.
“New Jerseyans need more than just excuses and finger-pointing; they deserve action, and there are commonsense steps we can take right now,” Bucco said.
Bucco said the state should remove the MVC from the voter registration process, require identification to vote, and regularly review voter rolls while lawmakers continue investigating how the registrations occurred.
Corrado, a former Passaic County clerk, said the legislation should be only the beginning of the state’s response.
“But New Jersey cannot simply fix the symptoms and move on,” Corrado said. “We need a complete accounting of what happened, who knew about it, when they knew, why warnings were ignored, and what additional reforms are necessary to ensure a breach of public trust of this magnitude never happens again.”
Corrado and Bucco have previously sponsored legislation requiring audits and crosschecks of voter registration records.