Republicans demand election documents in New Jersey as they continue to seize on bogus election fraud claims

Republicans can’t stop talking about New Jersey. 

In the latest of the cascade of probes following a software glitch that accidentally registered noncitizens to vote in the state, U.S. House Republicans sent a letter to Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell (D) demanding more election-related documents and data. 

Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil (R-Wisc.) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote they were “concerned about the application of federal law in New Jersey as it pertains to accurate voter registration.”

Monday’s letter is more of the same when it comes to the GOP seeking out opportunities to villainize New Jersey for an error that’s had no significant impact on the outcome of the state’s elections.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D) addressed the error, initiated a statewide investigation and cut ties with the company she faults for it. Sherrill has so far refused to bend a knee to repeated failed federal government attempts at seizing on the error as political fuel for anti-voting measures.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) failed to get the private voter data of the roughly 6,600 people impacted by the erroneous registrations. A day later, the DOJ lost its bid for unredacted voter rolls in New Jersey, in what is becoming a trend for the Department.

President Donald Trump and his allies also took advantage of the software malfunction to push the SAVE America Act, which lacks enough votes in the Senate to pass as the chamber heads into legislative recess next week.

While the error represents a technological oversight that led to fewer than 400 noncitizens actually casting votes, Republicans have jumped to frame it as deliberately skirting federal law.

The Monday letter requests all information related to what it refers to as New Jersey’s compliance with the Help America Vote Act, the National Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1960.

While it’s been confirmed that noncitizen voter registrations were accidental, as individuals clearly marked themselves as such, the letter called for documents related to the “alleged software errors” and “purposeful registration of noncitizens.”

It also referenced what it called New Jersey’s “lack of cooperation” with the government’s federal voter registration database that would share private voter data, including citizenship status, with the Department of Homeland Security.

Sherrill has already said she has no plans to share this data with the federal government.

House Elections Subcommittee Chair Laurel Lee (R-Florida) and House Judiciary Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) also signed the letter, requesting a response by Aug. 17.