TRENTON, N.J., Aug. 28 (Nationwide Times) — The Republican National Committee has warned New Jersey’s secretary of state and election officials in six counties that it may sue unless they provide records about voter-roll maintenance and possible noncitizen registrations by Sept. 15.
The notices, sent to Secretary of State Tahesha Way and officials in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Somerset and Union counties, invoke the National Voter Registration Act. The law sets requirements for registering voters and maintaining accurate voter rolls.
The dispute comes as state officials, congressional committees and the U.S. Department of Justice examine a New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission software error that sent information about thousands of people who had indicated they were not U.S. citizens to the state’s Division of Elections.
The records demand is not a finding that noncitizens voted illegally. The available information does not establish how many affected people voted, whether any ballots were counted or whether anyone was charged.
What is the RNC seeking?
The RNC says it wants records about the removal of noncitizens from voter rolls, citizenship-verification procedures and other maintenance activities. It says the officials must provide the records by Sept. 15 or face possible litigation.
The RNC has previously sued the New Jersey Division of Elections in Mercer County Superior Court over access to voter-roll maintenance records. RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said the organization was seeking records to ensure the state follows federal law.
The RNC and the New Jersey Republican Party also requested voter rolls from all 21 counties. They said their review found cases in which people seeking naturalization asked to be removed from the rolls because they had been registered without knowing it.
The RNC said Bergen County records showed 134 noncitizens were removed from New Jersey voter rolls between January 2023 and August 2026. It said 91 of those registrations were linked to the Motor Vehicle Commission.
Those figures come from the RNC’s review and have not been independently established in the available records. The notices’ exact text and the underlying county records were not provided in the material available for this report.
What happened at the Motor Vehicle Commission?
New Jersey officials said a software error caused information for approximately 6,600 people to be sent to the Division of Elections between June 2023 and June 2024, even though the people had indicated they were not U.S. citizens.
The Sherrill administration said approximately 5,100 registrations were placed in deleted status because there was no other registration, attestation or transaction showing that the individuals were eligible. Another approximately 1,450 registrations were marked rejected while county officials review additional records. Those individuals cannot vote unless their eligibility is verified, the administration said.
The House Judiciary Committee’s account said the registration issue ended after the Motor Vehicle Commission asked IDEMIA, a technology contractor, to change software settings in June 2024. The committee’s material also said the affected registrations were not immediately removed and that the issue was not publicly disclosed at that time.
The Motor Vehicle Commission has said noncitizens appearing on voter rolls is rare. An agency spokesman said people who register through the commission affirm that they are U.S. citizens and that cases in which noncitizens claim citizenship or voter eligibility are taken seriously.
The number 6,600 refers to people whose information was transmitted for registration processing. It is not the same as the approximately 5,100 registrations later placed in deleted status or the approximately 1,450 marked rejected. The available information does not explain the final status of every record.
What are federal officials and Congress doing?
The Justice Department has demanded information about the approximately 6,600 affected people, including their identities, nationalities, addresses and voting records. The request also covered records concerning roughly 400 people reported to have cast ballots, although the available material does not provide vote counts, election dates or certification details.
Two Republican-led House committees separately requested records concerning New Jersey’s compliance with the Help America Vote Act, the National Voter Registration Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1960. Their request included information about election safeguards, the software error, communications with IDEMIA and the use of the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, known as SAVE.
The committees set an Aug. 17 deadline for the state to provide records. The Justice Department’s request and the congressional inquiry are separate from the RNC’s notices to state and county officials.
A federal judge also rejected an RNC effort to obtain broad access to New Jersey voter-roll data, according to reporting cited in the research material. The available information does not identify the judge, case number or ruling.
What does the law require?
The National Voter Registration Act requires states to maintain accurate and current voter-registration lists. It also limits how and when eligible voters may be removed, in part to prevent people from being wrongly purged before an election.
That creates two competing concerns in the New Jersey dispute: ensuring that people who are not eligible to vote are not registered, while also protecting eligible voters from improper removal.
The current notices are a records demand and a threat of possible litigation, not a final court ruling. The available information does not show whether the secretary of state or the six counties complied with the Sept. 15 deadline or whether the RNC filed the threatened lawsuits.
It also does not establish that any affected person knowingly registered or voted as a noncitizen. The pending reviews and records requests are intended to determine what happened, which records were affected and whether any ballots were cast or counted.