New Jersey has removed “around 6,600” foreign nationals who were registered from its electoral rolls because of a “serious computer error”, the state’s Democratic governor announced on Tuesday, against a backdrop of accusations of fraud by Donald Trump.
“Less than 400 people”, newly registered between June 2023 and June 2024 due to this error voted, according to Mikie Sherrill. “They were registered as Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated, across the state,” she said in a statement.
The elected official, who took office on January 1, said she was “dismayed by the irresponsible failings which allowed this to happen and by the lack of transparency of political leaders at the time”.
This announcement comes as Donald Trump increases accusations of massive electoral fraud in the run-up to the midterm elections in November, in view of which the Republicans seem in bad shape and many expect to see him contest the results.
The Republican, who has never acknowledged his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, and his administration claimed last week that more than 250,000 non-citizens were registered to vote in four states, including New Jersey.
Donald Trump is thus putting pressure on parliamentarians in his camp to adopt the “SAVE America Act”. The bill — stalled in Congress — requires voters to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote and to show identification when voting.
However, he has never provided proof of the existence of large-scale irregularities, and countless experts, independent institutes and court decisions have concluded that there was no electoral fraud that could have influenced the results.
“As the Trump administration attempts to use the elections for political purposes, I am ensuring that we protect our ballots,” continues Mikie Sherrill in his press release.
“The difference is simple: When we find a problem, we don’t hide it, we don’t deny it, and we don’t invent conspiracies. We investigate, we correct, and we inform the public,” she also wrote.
Separately, a New Jersey judge on Monday dismissed a complaint filed by the Republican National Committee demanding access to the state’s voter rolls.
