Voter-Roll Lawsuit
Republicans sue New Jersey over voter-roll records following a registration error.
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The Republican National Committee, joined by New Jersey Republican leaders and Rep. Tom Kean Jr., sued the state and election officials in five counties in federal court, seeking records on voter-roll maintenance. The lawsuit alleges officials failed to provide records requested under the National Voter Registration Act, including information about removed or inactive voters, address-confirmation notices, communications with other agencies, and registrants identified as deceased, relocated or noncitizens. The dispute follows Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s disclosure that a Motor Vehicle Commission software error improperly registered about 6,600 people who had indicated they were not U.S. citizens; fewer than 400 subsequently voted, and officials have found no evidence of organized fraud or an election result being altered. Republicans say the records are needed to determine how the error occurred and how ineligible registrants were removed, while the state and counties contend that some requested information was unavailable, incomplete or disruptive to produce; Essex County agreed to provide the records and was not named as a defendant. Sherrill’s administration has accused Republicans of pursuing a partisan effort, while the RNC is asking a judge to declare the officials in violation of federal disclosure requirements and compel production.
Key Points
1
The lawsuit is the RNC’s second effort to obtain records related to the registration error; the committee previously filed a state-court case in early July, before Gov. Mikie Sherrill publicly disclosed the problem. A separate Justice Department lawsuit was also dismissed less than two months before the new federal filing.
2
The complaint says Secretary of State Dale Caldwell’s office did not acknowledge the July 31 request for six weeks and responded on Sept. 15—the final day of the federal statutory cure period—by providing only two voter lists while objecting to or denying every other category requested.
3
The counties allegedly handled the requests differently: Middlesex County produced no records, Union County said producing some records would substantially disrupt its operations, and Hudson County provided only part of the requested material before the deadline.
4
The records sought cover activity dating back to January 2023 and include communications with the Motor Vehicle Commission and other agencies, use of the federal SAVE database, and the reasons voters were removed from the rolls—information Republicans say was missing from the two statewide lists ultimately produced.
5
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill previously rejected a Justice Department demand for the names, birth dates, addresses, nationalities and other identifying information of people erroneously registered. Her spokesman, Stephen Sigmund, said Republicans had made 23 similar attempts to obtain voters’ personal data and had lost in court each time.
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