The Justice Department has initiated an investigation into New Jersey's handling of its voter rolls after Governor Mikie Sherrill disclosed that around 6,600 non-citizens were improperly registered to vote between June 2023 and June 2024. This erroneous registration occurred due to a software glitch in the state's motor vehicle system, which automatically registered individuals even after they indicated they were not U.S. citizens while applying for driver's licenses or identification cards. Fewer than 400 of these individuals reportedly cast ballots.
Following this disclosure, the Justice Department, specifically its Civil Rights Division, sent a letter to Governor Sherrill demanding information, including names, dates of birth, nationalities, residential addresses, and registration dates of all 6,600 individuals, and details on when and where the roughly 400 non-citizens voted. The department allotted five business days for New Jersey to provide this data. This demand includes personally identifying information, which New Jersey has previously been reluctant to share, citing privacy concerns and defending against an earlier lawsuit from the Trump administration seeking full voter rolls.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon stated that ensuring U.S. citizens' votes are not diluted by non-citizens' votes is of paramount importance. The Justice Department views this incident as an additional basis for its ongoing request for an electronic copy of New Jersey's statewide voter registration list, a request dating back at least a year. The department contends that the information is necessary to verify New Jersey's compliance with federal election laws, including the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Governor Sherrill, a Democrat, has stated she will use all legal tools to protect New Jerseyans' personal information.
This federal scrutiny follows a social media post from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security claiming that over 250,000 potential non-citizens were illegally registered to vote across several states, including New Jersey, though the state's own figures for non-citizen registrations are significantly lower. Republican officials are using the New Jersey revelations to advocate for the SAVE Act, which would impose citizenship checks on voters. New Jersey's Attorney General Jennifer Davenport has previously argued that the DOJ's requests for personal voter information, including driver's license and Social Security numbers, are baseless and that the state is committed to protecting residents' privacy.
