Pennacchio calls for federal probe of MVC voter registration failure

State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio (R-Montville) is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission’s automatic voter registration system after an alleged software failure resulted in approximately 6,600 noncitizens being registered to vote and hundreds casting ballots.

Pennacchio made the request Wednesday in a letter to Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche, arguing that an investigation ordered by Gov. Mikie Sherrill cannot substitute for an independent federal review.

“These improper registrations were discovered by State officials in 2024 according to the Governor, while the public was kept entirely in the dark,” Pennacchio said.  “As a result of this inexcusable delay, hundreds of illegal votes have been cast by these ineligible voters that we know of, diluting the voting power of legal voters throughout the State for years.”

Sherrill disclosed Tuesday that the registration error occurred between June 2023 and June 2024, before she became governor. Fewer than 400 of the affected individuals subsequently voted, according to her administration.

The Justice Department has already given Sherrill five business days to turn over the names, addresses and voting records of the approximately 6,600 affected individuals.  Its attorneys also cited the disclosure as an additional basis for a pending lawsuit seeking access to New Jersey’s statewide voter registration database.

The governor blamed a serious software error and ordered an independent investigation. But Pennacchio said the state has not adequately explained how the failure occurred, when officials discovered it or why it was not publicly disclosed earlier.

“So, for all we know, this is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

Pennacchio also questioned whether Sherrill’s administration could oversee an impartial inquiry because the 2025 gubernatorial election took place during the period when some improperly registered voters may have cast ballots.  Sherrill won that election by 478,905 votes, so the outcome of that contest is not in doubt.

“The fact that our Governor was elected in 2025, which may have been affected, should disqualify her Administration’s participation in an investigation of this issue,” Pennacchio said. “A review conducted by hand-selected investigators cannot substitute for an independent federal investigation.”

The Morris County Republican asked the Justice Department to determine the full scope and cause of the improper registrations, whether federal laws were violated, whether additional noncitizens were registered outside the period identified by Sherrill and whether any public officials or contractors failed to meet their legal obligations.

“The people of New Jersey deserve more than empty assurances from the same government that oversaw this foreseeable failure,” Pennacchio said. “They deserve an independent investigation that follows the evidence wherever it leads and provides a complete and transparent accounting of the facts so that any vulnerabilities that led us here can be fully and immediately remedied.”