NJ strikes 5,100 from voter rolls in wake of registration gaffe

NJ Republicans target two laws as they seek probe into non-citizen voting reveal

Sherrill on Wednesday said state officials have worked around the clock to fix the issue and review state records “to preserve the integrity of our voter rolls, and ensure that our elections remain free and fair.”

“I said we would conduct a thorough, complete, and fair investigation, and that is exactly what we are doing. Because that is what accountable government looks like,” she said in a statement. “My commitment to the people of New Jersey is to confront this issue with the urgency it deserves, so we have strong and fair elections.”

Republicans, including those in the Trump administration, have criticized Sherrill for the voter registration debacle, saying it proves their claims that noncitizens have committed widespread voter fraud. On Wednesday Sherrill said the GOP’s “only interest has been in trying to use this issue for political gain.”

Assemblyman Paul Kanitra (R-Ocean), one of the Republicans who have sharply criticized the Sherrill administration and Democrats on this issue, believes the number of noncitizens who have cast ballots could be far larger than state officials have admitted. Kanita told the New Jersey Monitor Wednesday that the governor has been less than fully transparent here by not specifying where and in what elections noncitizens have voted.

“Governor Sherrill has over and over again minimized the harsh reality created by her own party members: hundreds of noncitizens have voted in several elections in New Jersey,” he said, adding, “We need total and full cooperation of the Sherrill Administration right now. Anything less is a betrayal of the office of governor.”

State officials took New Jersey’s voter registration system offline briefly so state election officials could copy and preserve it and then update it to remove or modify the status of people impacted, she said.

That review drove the state to delete 5,100 of the improperly registered voters from voter rolls because officials could find no other proof of their eligibility to vote. State officials also changed the status of about 1,450 others to “rejected” pending further review, because they found separate voter registrations or other transactions in the system suggesting eligibility. County election officials have been tasked with verifying their eligibility and further amending their status after that review.

Sherrill, who has previously said fewer than 400 of the wrongly registered people had actually cast ballots, put that number at 340 on Wednesday. An additional 220 voted but had previously been registered to vote or otherwise had made attestations in state systems suggesting they are eligible, Sherrill said. County officials also are reviewing that second batch of people, too, to verify eligibility.

Sherrill said her administration has directed county officials to complete their reviews before voting begins in the upcoming general election. The state’s investigation remains ongoing, she added.

SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX.