TRENTON, N.J., Aug. 28 (Nationwide Times) — The Republican National Committee has warned New Jersey’s secretary of state and election officials in six counties that they could face legal action if they do not provide records about noncitizens on voter rolls and the state’s efforts to verify voter eligibility.
The notices, sent Aug. 26, give Secretary of State Tahesha Way and officials in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties until Sept. 15 to produce the records, the RNC said. The requested information covers voter-roll maintenance, removals of noncitizens and citizenship-verification procedures.
The dispute is about voter registration records, not proof that every person listed was allowed to vote or cast a ballot. The available records do not establish how many affected people voted illegally, whether any ballots were counted or whether anyone was charged.
What is the RNC seeking?
The National Voter Registration Act, or NVRA, sets rules for voter registration and the maintenance of voter rolls. The RNC says New Jersey officials must provide records showing how they handled registrations connected to people who indicated they were not U.S. citizens.
The party said records from Bergen County showed that 134 noncitizens were removed from New Jersey voter rolls between January 2023 and August 2026. The RNC said 91 of those registrations were linked to the state Motor Vehicle Commission, or MVC.
The RNC and the New Jersey Republican Party also requested voter rolls from all 21 counties. They said the records included cases in which people seeking naturalization asked to be removed from the rolls and said they had been registered without knowing it.
The RNC said officials must comply with the records demand or it may sue. The party has previously filed a lawsuit in Mercer County Superior Court seeking records about voter-roll maintenance by the New Jersey Division of Elections.
What caused the New Jersey registrations?
New Jersey officials have acknowledged a software error at the MVC. Between June 2023 and June 2024, information for about 6,600 people who had indicated they were not U.S. citizens was sent to the Division of Elections for voter-registration processing, according to state records and statements from Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration.
The state said about 5,100 registrations were placed in deleted status because officials found no other registration, attestation or transaction showing that the people were eligible. Another roughly 1,450 registrations were marked rejected while county officials review additional records. Those people cannot vote unless their eligibility is verified.
The House Judiciary Committee said MVC asked IDEMIA, a technology contractor, to change software settings in June 2024. The committee said the registrations stopped after that change, but the affected records were not immediately removed and the issue was not publicly disclosed at the time.
The MVC has said noncitizens appearing on voter rolls is rare. A spokesman said people who register through the MVC affirm their citizenship and that the agency takes cases involving possible ineligible registrations seriously.
Why are other agencies involved?
Republican-led House committees separately requested records about New Jersey’s compliance with the Help America Vote Act, the NVRA and the Civil Rights Act of 1960. Their requests included information about safeguards, the MVC software error, communications with IDEMIA and the state’s use of the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, known as SAVE. The committees set an Aug. 17 deadline for the records.
The U.S. Department of Justice also sought information from the Sherrill administration about the roughly 6,600 affected people. The department requested identities, nationalities, addresses and voting records. The request also covered about 400 people reported to have cast ballots, though the available material does not provide vote counts, election dates or information on whether any ballots were counted.
A federal judge reportedly rejected an RNC effort to obtain broad access to New Jersey voter-roll data. The available information does not identify the judge, case number or ruling.
What happens next?
The immediate deadline in the RNC notices is Sept. 15. It is not clear from the available records whether the secretary of state or the six counties have complied, or whether the RNC has filed the threatened litigation.
The controversy has drawn attention to the difference between voter registration and voting. A person may appear in a voter database because of an administrative error without casting a ballot. Election officials must still determine whether a registration is valid and whether any voting activity occurred.
The records sought by the RNC, Congress and the Justice Department could help clarify how the MVC error occurred, how quickly registrations were identified and removed, and whether any affected person voted. Those questions remain unresolved in the records currently available.
