Republican groups and two GOP lawmakers sued New Jersey election officials for records on a voter-roll cleanup after an error improperly registered about 6,600 noncitizens to vote. They allege officials failed to provide records or supplied only partial responses.
The federal suit was filed by the Republican National Committee, the New Jersey Republican State Committee, U.S. Rep. Thomas Kean Jr. and state Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco. It names Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell and election officials in Bergen, Middlesex, Hudson, Union and Somerset counties; Essex County agreed to produce records. Invoking the National Voter Registration Act, the plaintiffs ask a judge to order disclosure and declare that officials violated the law. They seek records on voter-removal policies, address-confirmation notices, inactive voters and information used to identify deceased, relocated or noncitizen registrants.
The administration traced the glitch to a Motor Vehicle Commission computer error and says it has been fixed. By August, officials said about 5,100 noncitizens had been removed from the rolls, though the review continued. Sherrill administration officials frame the case as part of a broader dispute over federal election oversight and say the Trump administration should not have access to voters’ personally identifiable information, citing a court ruling in a separate challenge to a Trump election order.
