House Republicans subpoena NJ for records in voter registration snafu

House Republican leaders subpoenaed Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration Wednesday for records to learn more about how about 6,000 New Jerseyans who said they were noncitizens were registered to vote.

Leaders of the House administration and judiciary committees sent a subpoena and letter to acting Secretary of State Shirley Emehelu on Wednesday, demanding documents on the software failure Sherrill has blamed for the goof, communications with the state’s technology vendor, and the state’s citizenship verification safeguards and efforts to remove improperly registered voters. They set a Nov. 16 deadline.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R), who heads the House Judiciary subcommittee on oversight, was one of four Republicans who signed the letter. Van Drew is now running for a fifth term in the 2nd District.

The state’s response to records requests Republican leaders first made Aug. 3 has been “inadequate,” Van Drew and Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, and Laurel Lee of Florida wrote.

“We have given Governor Sherrill’s administration every opportunity to provide answers, and they have failed to do so,” Van Drew said in a statement. “Thousands of people told the state they were not American citizens, yet they were registered to vote anyway. Hundreds actually voted. The state knew about this failure in 2024, and somehow these registrations remained on the rolls for nearly two years.”

News of the subpoena was first reported by New Jersey Globe.

Van Drew said he doesn’t blame Sherrill for a failure that began under former Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration.

“But she is responsible for providing answers now,” he said.

He said he and his colleagues sent the state letters with “straightforward questions” in an effort to exercise congressional oversight.

“Instead of getting answers, we got political attacks and a handful of documents that explain next to nothing,” Van Drew said. “If it was simply a software glitch, then show us the evidence. Who knew about it? Why wasn’t it fixed sooner? And what about people who may have falsely claimed to be citizens and were never independently verified?”

Emehelu has only been in the state’s top election job for a month. Sherrill appointed her to replace Dale Caldwell, who resigned in disgrace last month amid an investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and ethical lapses.

Sherrill called the subpoena “political theater.”

“I’m focused on governing effectively. Republicans in Congress clearly aren’t,” Sherrill said in a statement. “Instead of actually doing anything to make our elections safer or addressing issues Americans care about, like skyrocketing prices, Washington Republicans are choosing to play political games just thirteen days before the midterm elections.”

The 6,600 noncitizens were wrongly added to New Jersey’s voter rolls in 2023 and 2024 when they went to the Motor Vehicle Commission for driver’s licenses or identification cards.

Sherrill said her administration acted as soon as it discovered the mistake and the state has made agency-wide reforms since then, including purging most of the people wrongly registered, to ensure New Jersey’s elections are free, fair, and secure.

The state also dumped Idemia, the software vendor Sherrill pinned the problem on — Idemia has denied responsibility — and directed county election overseers to complete voter eligibility reviews before voting begins. Mail-in voting for the Nov. 3 election is already underway, and early in-person voting begins Saturday.

“We did this so that New Jerseyans can feel confident that we are running the strongest and fairest election in our country,” Sherrill said. “This stands in stark contrast to Trump and his enablers, like Jeff Van Drew and Jim Jordan, who are using their congressional committee not to do the work of the people, but for political theater. That is what this subpoena is, plain and simple.”