DOJ Demands Answers On New Jersey Voter Roll Scandal

Gov. Mikie has some more explaining to do.

The U.S. Department of Justice would like some more details on New Jersey’s voter registration debacle in which a “software error” reportedly led to some 6,600 noncitizens being added to the Garden State’s voter rolls in 2023 and 2024.

Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, is giving New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell five business days to turn over “additional information to assess New Jersey’s compliance with various federal statutes.”

The Justice Department previously requested information about New Jersey’s dirty voter rolls in a July 7 letter to Caldwell, who also serves as secretary of state and oversees its Division of Elections. Now, the stakes are suddenly significantly higher.

‘Preserve Any and All Records’

Dhillon wants the names of the 6,600 individuals identified  — their “full names, dates of birth, nationalities, residential addresses, and registration dates and locations.”

Sherrill divulged the “glitch” Tuesday at a press conference in which she unironically accused President Donald Trump of making “bizarre conspiracy theories about fraud with no evidence” as the Democrat announced evidence of noncitizens on her state’s voting rolls. She noted that about 400 of the 6,600 foreign nationals went on to vote in New Jersey elections.

Dhillon also wants Jersey election officials to detail to the DOJ “when and where” the noncitizens voted and provide the certification and signature, required under New Jersey law, for those who voted by mail ballot.

“Additionally, please treat this correspondence as a request to preserve any and all records relating to today’s disclosure,” Dhillon wrote.

The Justice Department simultaneously offered an update on the new developments to the district court presiding over its lawsuit — United States v. Caldwell — seeking New Jersey’s unredacted voter rolls.

‘Registered Them to Vote Anyway’

Like several other blue state governors, Sherrill has railed against the lawsuit, accusing Trump of trying to “weaponize elections for political gain.” New Jersey has rebuffed the Justice Department’s voter list requests, asserting that the state is “committed to protecting the privacy of our state’s residents and we will defend against this lawsuit in court.”

Sean Higgins, the governor’s spokesman, told several media outlets that the Trump administration has a “long history of weaponizing” in attempts to “overturn election results.”

“Governor Sherrill has been clear that she will use all the legal tools available to her to protect New Jerseyans’ personal information,” Higgins said, reiterating Sherrill’s criticism of the France-based software vendor and her Democrat predecessor’s administration. They’re to blame, Sherrill claimed at Tuesday’s press conference.

But the tech company, IDEMIA, told the New York Post that New Jersey officials had access to the same information on the noncitizens “but apparently registered them to vote anyway.” Reportedly, the software the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) used to automatically register individuals to vote when applying for driver’s licenses and other ID failed to block the noncitizens from the list even though the applicants noted on their forms that they were not U.S. citizens.

“The 6,600 records submitted to the [MVC] and Division of Elections contained correct information according to the design specifications as set out by the state,” Lisa Shoemaker, an IDEMIA spokeswoman, told the Post on Wednesday.

“All 6,600 individuals indicated ‘Yes’ to wanting to register to vote and ‘NO’ to being a US Citizen,” she added.

“This information was recorded correctly and always available,” she added.

More than two dozen states and the District of Columbia use similar automatic registration systems, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

‘Illegally Diluted’

Department of Homeland Security reviews found more than 35,000 potential noncitizens on New Jersey’s voter rolls. The DOJ analyzed voter registration data from four states — New Jersey, California, Nevada and Pennsylvania —  and said it found more than 250,000 potential noncitizens on their rolls. In California, the number was nearly 191,000.

Sherrill says her administration has launched an independent investigation. New Jersey Assembly Republican Leader John DiMaio is calling for a thorough audit and new election integrity safeguards.

“New Jersey Republicans have been sounding the alarm for years that the automatic voter registration process at the MVC was highly problematic,” DiMaio said in a press release. “In 2020 and again in 2025, voters were disenfranchised after the system changed party affiliations. When we questioned MVC officials, they refused to disclose how they safeguard the process. Trenton Democrats have continued to undermine public trust in our elections, and it’s time for change.”

Democrats have labeled an election integrity bill — the SAVE America Act — “Jim Crow 2.0.” They insist that a law aimed at ensuring only U.S. citizens vote in U.S. elections will disenfranchise voters. But that’s exactly what New Jersey’s voter registration “glitch” did,  canceling out the votes of some 400 legal voters — a point Dhillon emphasized in her request to Sherrill and Caldwell.

“Ensuring that U.S. citizens’ votes are not illegally diluted by noncitizens’ votes is of paramount importance,” the assistant attorney general wrote.

Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.