newjerseyglobe.com · David Wildstein · September 8, 2026
Van Drew calls congressional hearing on 6,600 noncitizens placed on N.J. voter rolls - New Jersey Globe
Rep. Jeff Van Drew in 2019. (Photo: Office of U.S. Senator Bob Menendez).
# Van Drew calls congressional hearing on 6,600 noncitizens placed on N.J. voter rolls
South Jersey Republican chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight
By David Wildstein, September 08 2026 5:43 pm
Rep. Jeff Van Drew will convene a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing next week to investigate how approximately 6,600 people who identified themselves as noncitizens found their way onto New Jersey’s voter rolls,
The hearing, “Restoring Election Integrity: Oversight of Voter Fraud in New Jersey,” is scheduled for Tuesday, September 15.
Van Drew (R-Dennis) chairs the Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight, which has authority to call witnesses, seek documents, and issue subpoenas.
The investigation follows the disclosure that individuals who answered “no” to a citizenship question during Motor Vehicle Commission transactions were still transmitted into the state’s voter-registration system between June 2023 and June 2024. The state has attributed the problem to a software failure by a longtime vendor, IDEMIA.
Approximately 400 of those individuals ultimately cast ballots. The state has not publicly identified which elections they participated in or whether any of their votes affected the outcome of a close contest.
Van Drew previously sent Gov. Mikie Sherrill twelve questions about the controversy, asking how the failure occurred, why it wasn’t detected sooner, which elections may have been affected, and whether state officials or contractors would face consequences. He also questioned whether the incident was simply a software error.
“How do you know this was just a software glitch and not a nefarious act?” Van Drew asked in the July letter.
Sherrill responded by accusing Van Drew and congressional Republicans of using the registration error as a political weapon. She said her administration disclosed the problem publicly, ordered an investigation led by former New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa, and moved to remove affected individuals from the rolls.
The governor said about 5,100 people had been removed after officials determined they were registered through the MVC error. Another 1,450 registrations were rejected and sent to county election officials for review, while about 220 people were identified as having older registration records suggesting they may have been eligible voters.
Sherrill also warned that relying on the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database could mistakenly remove eligible citizens and expand federal control over state election administration. She said Republicans cared more about political gain than election integrity. Sherrill did not take office until January of this year.
Van Drew rejected that response, saying Sherrill had failed to answer the questions posed by him and 17 other House Republicans.
“Instead of answering those questions, Governor Sherrill responded with Democratic talking points, attacks on President Trump, and personal attacks against me,” Van Drew said. “Her response was a political hit piece.”
Van Drew said the hearing would focus on the mechanics of the registration failure, the safeguards that failed to stop it, and the steps needed to prevent a recurrence.
“This was never about Governor Sherrill or any one political party,” he said. “It is about New Jersey and the integrity of our country’s elections.”
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