Vance blasts NJ voting scandal, demands action from New Jersey Democrats

🗳️ Vice President JD Vance said New Jersey's voter registration error shows why Congress should pass the SAVE America Act.

⚖️ Gov. Mikie Sherrill said 6,600 noncitizens were mistakenly registered because of an MVC software error and blamed the Murphy administration for failing to disclose it.

🏛️ The case has intensified the national debate over election security and voting access.

TRENTON — Vice President JD Vance seized on New Jersey's voter registration scandal to urge the state's two Democratic U.S. senators to support the Republican-backed SAVE America Act.

The comment on X came hours after Gov. Mikie Sherrill disclosed that a software glitch in the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission's voter registration system incorrectly registered 6,600 people who had answered "no" when asked whether they were U.S. citizens while applying for driver's licenses.

The governor blamed the Murphy administration for covering up the mistake, which appears to have been brought to her attention after Homeland Security last week revealed that as many as 35,152 noncitizens could be registered to vote in New Jersey.

Sherrill said her administration immediately ordered an investigation, directed officials to remove those mistakenly registered from the voter rolls and began replacing the vendor responsible for the system. A preliminary review found that fewer than 400 of those mistakenly registered ultimately cast ballots.

The disclosure has quickly become part of the national debate over election security. A week ago, President Donald Trump addressed the nation to once again dispute the result of the 2020 election, which he lost, and to push for the voter ID bill. In her announcement on Tuesday, Sherrill tried to get ahead of the political fallout by attacking Trump's claims and saying he "has zero credibility on the issue of election integrity."

Department of Justice also called on New Jersey to provide names and addresses and registration information for all 6,600 noncitizens who were mistakenly registered to vote by the MVC. New Jersey has been fighting the DOJ's lawsuit seeking the state's full unredacted voter database, including non-public data. The state already had a federal judge toss a similar lawsuit by the Republican National Committee this week.

Vance ties New Jersey case to SAVE Act

Vance, as well as other Republicans in New Jersey and across the country, argued the New Jersey incident reinforces the need for the SAVE America Act.

The White House says the legislation would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship before registering to vote in federal elections, require voter identification for federal voting, restrict most mail voting to limited circumstances such as military service, disability, illness or travel, and require states to remove non-citizens from voter rolls.

Supporters and critics disagree over the proposal

Opponents argue that federal law already prohibits non-citizens from voting and say the proposal would impose burdens on people who are eligible to vote when they try to update their registration.

According to a policy brief from Vote.org, the legislation would generally require voters to present documentary proof of citizenship in person, replacing many existing online and mail registration options. The organization also argues the bill could create barriers for some eligible voters, including people without passports or certified birth certificates. Oftentimes, these people are low-income or minorities. Married women would also have to present their marriage certificate if they changed their name.