New Jersey governor clashes with Trump administration over voter registration probe
Governor Mikie Sherrill released findings on thousands of ineligible voter registrations and accused the Trump administration of politicizing the issue, while DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin claimed the state had agreed to cooperate.
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill unveiled results of an investigation that found roughly 5,100 voter registrations marked as deleted and many more pending review due to a software error in the state's motor voter system. She asserted that her administration is correcting the problem and protecting eligible voters, contrasting this effort with what she described as the Trump Administration's use of the issue for political purposes.
The day after DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin thanked Sherrill for cooperating with federal efforts to stop illegal voting, a source clarified that no formal cooperation agreement exists. Mullin referenced a figure of 35,000 potential alien registrations, while the governor's office emphasized that only a handful of noncitizens were found to have voted. Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco, demanded greater transparency and proposed a bipartisan select committee with subpoena power. The White House, through spokeswoman Lauren Bis, rejected Sherrill's criticism as laughable, and the governor's spokesperson reiterated the focus on secure elections.
Why it matters
The dispute highlights tensions over election integrity and federal-state cooperation ahead of upcoming midterm elections.
In this story
