More than 2,000 of N.J.’s ‘noncitizen voters’ could actually be citizens, Gov. Sherrill says

About 2,000 New Jersey voters identified last week as noncitizens could actually be citizens after all, Gov. Mikie Sherrill said on Tuesday, a week after her disclosure of a voter registration glitch that put the state at the center of the national debate over election security.

The latest development follows Sherrill’s announcement last week that approximately 6,600 noncitizens had been registered to vote ahead of the 2024 election due to a software glitch with the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission’s automatic voter registration program. She said fewer than 400 of those people had voted and there is no evidence that they impacted the results of any election. The discovery came right as President Donald Trump’s administration has been making widespread claims of noncitizen voting and pushing for an overhaul of the country’s election system.

The first-term governor said Tuesday the Department of State’s Division of Elections has begun a process to remove more than 4,500 individuals who were registered because of the software error, but that the rest of the registrations will be referred to county election officials for further review “to ensure that any lawfully registered voters are not being disenfranchised.”

“We are taking this extra step because our initial review indicates that a number of these individuals may be citizens,” she said in a statement. “That has been the case in other states where clerical and administrative voter registration errors have occurred, and we’re determined to get this right.”

Her office announced the discovery a little more than one hour after celebrating New Jersey’s new John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act, which Sherrill signed July 2.

The law, which is based on a federal proposal that former President Joe Biden unsuccessfully tried to pass, promotes equal opportunity to voting, voter outreach to communities that don’t speak English proficiently, and prohibits intimidation, deception, violence or restraint of voters or election workers.

Sherrill’s Tuesday celebration at Union Baptist Church in Trenton shows the governor is not shying away from the issue of voting rights even as the state becomes a talking point for Republicans who want enact new nation restrictions — including requiring voters provide proof of citizenship to register with documents like a birth certificate or passport.

Sherrill opposes the national legislation, known as the SAVE Act, which has been championed by Trump as a way to make elections more secure but that opponents warn could make it tougher to vote for millions of Americans.

The issue likely isn’t going away for the former member of Congress as Republicans ramp up their advocacy ahead of November’s midterm elections.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, a South Jersey Republican who was first elected as a Democrat in 2018 before vowing his loyalty to Trump a year later, led a public letter with other House Republicans calling on Sherrill to answer a series of questions about the noncitizen voting issue. He questioned how she knows it was “just a software glitch and not a nefarious act.”

Van Drew, who chairs a House Oversight Committee subcommittee, said he plans to hold hearings over the issue and is “absolutely exploring” the possibility of subpoenas, Politico reported.

On Tuesday, Sherrill said Van Drew “has a very sordid history as far as elections go.” She pointed to how Van Drew’s campaign hired a political operative who was a “known ballot harvester” — referencing Craig Callaway who had served prison time for blackmail and bribes and later pleaded guilty to ballot fraud, Politico reported.

Sherrill said her administration hired the CSG law firm to conduct an independent investigation. One of the firm’s main partners, Jeffrey Chiesa, was former Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s attorney general and appointed senator.

“We have a bipartisan, independent investigation going on right now because we have nothing to hide,” she said.