Republicans renew push to match voter rolls with jury records

Assembly Republicans are renewing their push to require New Jersey election officials to compare the state’s voter registration database with jury records that identify roughly 75,000 noncitizens each year.

The move comes days after Gov. Mikie Sherrill disclosed that a software error at the Motor Vehicle Commission resulted in approximately 6,600 noncitizens being improperly registered to vote between June 2023 and June 2024.

Legislation first introduced by Assemblyman Robert Auth (R-Old Tappan) in 2018 would require the Secretary of State to reach an agreement with the Administrative Office of the Courts to cross-check voter registrations against records of people excused from jury service because they are not U.S. citizens.

The bill, A509, would require officials to review potential matches and remove ineligible voters where appropriate.  The comparison would include all available jury records dating to the enactment of New Jersey’s “motor voter” law in 1994.

“Eight years ago, I introduced this bill because the state was already sitting on the solution,” Auth said.  “Every year, tens of thousands of people tell the Judiciary they are not U.S. citizens. The state simply never bothered to compare that list with the voter rolls.”

More than one million jury summonses are issued annually using records from the Division of Elections, the Division of Taxation, and the MVC.   About 20% of prospective jurors report that they fail to meet at least one statutory qualification. Roughly one-quarter of those disqualifications — about 75,000 annually during the last three years — involve noncitizenship.

Assemblyman Greg McGuckin (R-Toms River), a co-sponsor, said the jury figures suggest that New Jersey’s problems extend beyond a single vendor’s software error.

“The same bad records putting noncitizens on the voter rolls are putting them into jury pools,” McGuckin said. “That’s not one mistake.  That’s a systemic failure.”

Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia (R-Franklin) is a sponsor, and Assemblyman Michael Inganamort (R-Chester) is a co-sponsor.

“The state already trusts these records enough to keep ineligible people out of the jury box,” Auth said. “It should trust them enough to keep ineligible people off the voter rolls.”