TRENTON — The United States Department of Justice has given Governor Mikie Sherrill’s administration 5 business days to turn over detailed records on roughly 6,600 people who were mistakenly registered to vote in New Jersey after identifying themselves as noncitizens.
The demand came in a letter dated July 21 from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, addressed to Sherrill in Trenton.
Sherrill announced this week that a software error in the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission’s registration system had allowed approximately 6,600 people to be added to the voter rolls between June 2023 and June 2024, despite having indicated on driver’s license and identification card applications that they were not United States citizens. She said roughly 400 of those individuals went on to cast ballots.
Sherrill called the error a reckless failure that occurred under the previous administration and said there is no evidence at this time that any election outcome was affected. She said the state has begun removing the improper registrations from its voter rolls.
In her letter, Dhillon wrote that “ensuring that U.S. citizens’ votes are not illegally diluted by noncitizens’ votes is of paramount importance.” She asked the state to provide, within five business days, the full names, dates of birth, nationalities, residential addresses, and registration dates and locations for the 6,600 individuals identified, as well as when and where the 400 who voted cast their ballots, including certification and signature information required for any mail-in ballots.
The letter also instructed the state to preserve all records related to the disclosure. Dhillon said the Justice Department would inform the federal court overseeing its ongoing lawsuit against Lieutenant Governor Dale Caldwell, who oversees the New Jersey Division of Elections, that the disclosure provides an additional basis for the department to obtain an electronic copy of the state’s voter registration list. The letter noted that the Justice Department first sought similar information from Caldwell in a July 7 letter and said New Jersey election officials had not yet produced the requested voter database.
A spokesperson for Sherrill characterized the Justice Department’s request for personal information on the noncitizens as part of a broader pattern of the White House “weaponizing the Justice Department,” according to published reports.
The letter asks that any questions be directed to Eric Neff, acting chief of the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division.
