DOJ gives New Jersey 5 days to hand over voter data after noncitizen registration scandal
· Fox News
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon doubled down on the DOJ's demand for New Jersey's voter registration data Wednesday after Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill's public revelation that around 6,600 noncitizens were added to the rolls through the motor-voter process.
Dhillon’s letter to Sherrill came as a slew of lawmakers called for audits and bipartisan cooperation to address the findings, while the Justice Department noted it remains in litigation against Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell seeking New Jersey’s electronic voter database.
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"Ensuring that U.S. citizens' votes are not illegally diluted by noncitizens' votes is of paramount importance," Dhillon wrote.
"We therefore write to formally request additional information to assess New Jersey's compliance with various federal statutes, as provided in our July 7, 2026, letter to the Lieutenant Governor. As we stated in that letter, we stand ready to help New Jersey election officials comply with the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, as outlined in our memorandum titled, Federal Law Requirements for State and Local Election Officials."
DEMOCRAT NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR SAYS THOUSANDS OF NONCITIZENS DISCOVERED ON VOTER ROLLS, PURGED
Dhillon noted that about 400 of the roughly 6,600 noncitizens New Jersey said were mistakenly registered to vote and cast ballots.
She gave Sherrill five days to provide the names, personal information, registration dates and precincts of the 6,600, as well as the methods and times by which the 400 who voted cast their ballots, while treating the letter as a legal preservation-of-records request typical in litigation.
With the DOJ already engaged in litigation against Caldwell and the state, Dhillon said she would notify the judge in that case of the new development as the department continues to seek statewide voter registration lists from states including New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
When reached for comment, the DOJ provided a separate letter Deputy Attorney General Jesus Osete sent to Caldwell and New Jersey Division of Elections Director Donna Barber on Wednesday, again requesting electronic voter registration data.
Osete said the DOJ has grounding to "ascertain New Jersey's compliance with the list maintenance requirements" of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 and the Help America Vote Act of 2002.
He added that the New Jersey Division of Elections must also verify that no additional noncitizens are registered on the state's voter rolls.
The letter was filed as an exhibit in the Justice Department's ongoing lawsuit against New Jersey seeking access to the state's electronic voter registration database.
Meanwhile, the French technology contractor that works with the State Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) said late Wednesday that responsibility lies not with the MVC but with the Department of State, led by Caldwell, and the Division of Elections.
Sherrill spokesman Sean Higgins slammed the DOJ in comments to Fox News Digital on Thursday, saying the Trump administration has a "long history of weaponizing" the agency for political purposes and of attempting 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, pointing again to Sherrill's public remarks Wednesday and noting the governor's "disgust" at the vendor and former Gov. Philip Murphy's administration.
IDEMIA said in a statement it has worked with the MVC for four decades to process eligible individuals seeking to register to vote when conducting drivers licensing business.
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"IDEMIA’s role is to transmit information through the motor vehicle system. The voter registration information is transmitted to the New Jersey Department of State, Division of Elections, which is ultimately responsible for verifying eligibility to vote," said the company — whose American base is in Reston, Virginia.
"Information submitted by IDEMIA must still be validated and adjudicated by the Division of Elections."
Meanwhile, the top Republican on the state's Judiciary Committee said she has tried multiple times to press the issue of voter-roll integrity with Democrats — who control all branches of government — since 2019.
"I have been warning... New Jersey needed stronger safeguards to protect the integrity of our elections," state Sen. Kristin Corrado, R-Totowa, said.
"I sent six separate letters raising concerns and calling for action and introduced legislation that would have provided a commonsense safeguard by preventing the MVC from prompting non-citizens to register to vote but my warnings were repeatedly ignored by the Democrats," she said in a statement that included some of the letters sent to the Murphy administration.
"Now we are learning that a catastrophic government failure allowed thousands of non-citizens to be registered to vote, and suddenly everyone is acting surprised," she said.
The DOJ appeared to signal that the New Jersey case strengthens the Trump administration's push for stronger election integrity measures nationwide as multiple states continue to resist requests for information sharing.