Sherrill pressured to expand probe into New Jersey voting scandal

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(The Center Square) — New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill is facing pressure from Republican legislative leaders and federal law enforcement officials to provide more details on how more than 6,000 non-citizens were allowed to register to vote in the state.

On Tuesday, Sherrill said a state investigation revealed that between June 2023 and 2024 about 6,600 people indicated when they were applying for a state driver's license or identification card that they were not U.S. citizens, but the state Motor Vehicle Commission's software system ended up registering them to vote "through no fault of their own." 

At least 400 of the erroneously registered non-citizens cast ballots in elections during those years, according to the Sherrill administration.

Sherrill, a former lawmaker who took office in January, said the software blunder occurred under then-Gov Phil Murphy's administration and that she discovered it only last week. She said the vendor for the state's voter registration system will be replaced.

But the Justice Department is demanding more information from the Democratic governor and vowing to conduct a more federal investigation into how the non-citizens were allowed to register to vote and cast ballots. 

"Ensuring that U.S. citizens' votes are not illegally diluted by non-citizens votes is of paramount importance," Harmeet Dhillon, the DOJ's Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, wrote to Sherrill this week. "We therefore write to formally request additional information to assess New Jersey's compliance with various federal statutes." 

The DOJ requested the names, addresses and countries of origin for all of the 6,600 individuals who were erroneously registered to vote. Federal prosecutors also want to know which elections the 400 non-citizens voted in and how they voted. 

State elections officials have revealed that those who cast ballots in the elections after being erroneously registered voted as Republicans, Democrats, and independents, but didn't say if they voted in a presidential election or other contests.  

Meanwhile, New Jersey Republicans are calling for a special legislative commission to look into the integrity of the state's voting system in the wake of the scandal.

In a letter to Democratic House Speaker Craig Coughlin, Republican Assembly Minority Leader John Dimaio called for convening a Special Legislative Committee on Election Integrity with co-chairs appointed by Democratic and Republican leaders and subpoena power to compel testimony and the production of documents, records and electronic data. 

"This matter cannot be left solely to an internal executive branch investigation," he wrote in the letter, signed by two dozen Assembly Republicans. "The Motor Vehicle Commission and the vendors that operate its systems are accountable to the Legislature and the people of New Jersey. "The Legislature has an independent responsibility to determine what happened, why it happened and whether additional failures remain undiscovered." 

Sherrill's office hasn't said whether it will comply with the federal requests for more information or allow lawmakers to conduct their own investigation. 

"The Trump administration has a long history of weaponizing the Justice Department for political purposes and attempting to overturn election results," a Sherrill spokesperson said in a statement. "Governor Sherrill has been clear that she will use all the legal tools available to her to protect New Jerseyan's personal information."

The embarrassing disclosure comes as President Donald Trump pushes Congress to pass strict new voter-ID and proof-of-citizenship rules. Trump has said the New Jersey voter registration scandal is an example why lawmakers should pass his SAVE America Act, which would restrict mail voting and require proof of citizenship to register to vote.