Jones hits back at GOP election-integrity task force

State Democratic Chair LeRoy Jones Jr. criticized a recently announced GOP election-integrity task force in a Thursday statement.

The state GOP on Wednesday established a task force with elections officials, which state GOP Chairwoman Christine Giordano Hanlon said would identify and address “irregularities” in the electoral system. Jones accused them of embracing a “fabricated” theory of mass voter fraud, casting the move as a capitulation to the right wing of the party. 

“It only took a decade and the election of a new state Republican chair, but the New Jersey Republican Party has finally fully embraced Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans fabled ‘flood the zone with nonsense’ approach to politics,” Jones said. 

U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Robert Frazer announced charges last week against four non-citizens who had allegedly illegally voted in federal elections since 2020. New Jersey officials say that despite rare individual charges, New Jersey’s election system remains secure and that there is no evidence of large-scale fraud or abuse.

“Let’s call Chairwoman Hanlon’s announcement what it is: an election interference task force,” said Matt Riggins, the Burlington County Democratic Committee chair. “It is a deliberate attempt to distract from the chaos that Donald Trump is inflicting on our economy and our global standing.”

Jones noted that two of the charges were pressed against people in Monmouth County, a swipe at Hanlon, the Monmouth County clerk.

“However, if they want to start small then perhaps a ‘sub-committee’ to look into the Monmouth County Clerk’s office to find out why two of the four people being charged by the U.S. Attorney with illegally voting are from there,” he said.