New Jersey GOP Chair Says Reported 6,600 Illegal Non-Citizen Registrations Are Only a Fraction of the Problem

New Jersey Republican Party chair Christine Hanlon told a radio program on Sunday that the more than 6,600 non-citizens identified on the state’s voter rolls between June 2023 and June 2024 are "just the tip of the iceberg." She said she believes the actual number is higher and that additional cases are likely to emerge.

Governor Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, confirmed last week that over 6,000 non-citizens were mistakenly added to the voter registration database and that about 400 of them cast ballots in the period cited. The registrations occurred through the state’s motor-vehicle-based automatic enrollment program, which was in place under former Governor Phil Murphy.

The Justice Department has opened an investigation, and the governor’s office has hired independent firm CSG Law to review the matter. State officials have attributed the error to a software issue in the motor-vehicle system supplied by French company IDEMIA, while IDEMIA contended that the state had data indicating the individuals were not citizens yet still processed their registrations.

Hanlon emphasized the significance of the issue, noting New Jersey’s history of close elections and calling for a full investigation and policy reforms. She criticized the governor’s description of the incident as a "single glitch" and urged the Republican National Committee and other GOP officials to prioritize election-integrity measures.

The controversy coincides with national Republican efforts to tighten election rules, including proposals for voter-ID requirements and legislation that would require proof of citizenship to vote. President Donald Trump has previously claimed that hundreds of thousands of non-citizens were registered in several states, including New Jersey, though those figures have not been independently verified.