New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill has made her position clear: New Jersey will not hand over personal data on the roughly 6,600 noncitizens mistakenly registered to vote in the state—setting up the Governor for a public clash with the U.S. Department of Justice under President Trump.
“Today, I informed [Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon] that New Jersey will not provide the personal information of thousands of New Jersey residents,” Sherrill wrote on social media, citing several federal privacy laws, according to POLITICO. “The request had no legal basis, and I will always protect New Jerseyans’ personally identifiable information.”
Dhillon pushed back directly, replying that the DOJ would pursue the records “through all legal means.” “Gov. Sherrill’s refusal to cooperate with federal law enforcement does nothing to protect law-abiding NJ voters,” she wrote. “NJ has a legal duty to keep ineligible voters off its rolls, & our request is grounded in that legal authority.”
The clash comes with context. Last week, Sherrill disclosed that a software error at the Motor Vehicle Commission, active between June 2023 and June 2024 under former Gov. Phil Murphy, allowed roughly 6,600 noncitizens to register to vote.
About 400 of them cast ballots, though Sherrill made clear that there’s no evidence any election was affected by the illegal votes.
Clean Up Underway
In a statement Tuesday, Sherrill said the Division of Elections has begun removing more than 4,500 of the individuals registered solely because of the software error. The remaining roughly 2,100 registrations are being referred to county election officials for further review.
“We are taking this extra step because our initial review indicates that a number of these individuals may be citizens,” Sherrill said. “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.”
MVC has also mailed letters to affected individuals and launched a website, nj.gov/MVCsystemerror2023, with information on the review process and support resources.
The Political Fight Widens
The Trump administration has claimed, without evidence, that the actual problem is far larger than New Jersey disclosed. On July 16, Department of Homeland Security officials said they had identified 35,152 noncitizens registered to vote in the state, though they failed to provide a source for their claim.
Congressional Republicans are taking the side of the Trump administration. Rep. Jeff Van Drew—one of New Jersey’s three House Republicans—told POLITICO he plans to hold a hearing once Congress returns from its August recess, suggesting he could subpoena state records. Van Drew and 18 House Republican colleagues have given Sherrill until Aug. 21 to answer a detailed list of questions about the error and the state’s response.
Sherrill has commissioned CSG Law, an outside firm, to investigate the incident. State legislative Democrats have said they’ll wait for that review before taking further action. Sherrill emphasized the investigation’s bipartisan makeup, noting that CSG partner Jeffrey Chiesa served as attorney general under former Gov. Chris Christie and briefly represented New Jersey in the U.S. Senate as a Republican.
“We have a bipartisan, independent investigation going on right now because we have nothing to hide,” Sherrill made clear.
Top Trump administration officials have also signaled they may pursue prosecution or deportation for some of the noncitizens who voted, despite them being placed on voter rolls through no fault of their own, according to the Governor.
Sherrill, who identified and publicized the error herself, didn’t mince words when responding to the Executive Branch: “As I said last week, this is what accountable government looks like. We inherited a problem. We didn’t hide it. We didn’t deny it. We’re investigating it. And we’re going to fix it, the right way,” she said.
“That approach stands in stark contrast to how MAGA Republicans have responded to this issue. From the moment I made this public and launched the investigation, Donald Trump and his followers have moved to weaponize the issue to advance their voter suppression schemes. And they are trying to target the individuals affected, who were registered through no fault of their own. I won’t let them do either. ”
The New Jersey Digest is a new jersey magazine that has chronicled daily life in the Garden State for over 10 years.