Election integrity advocates: Why clean voter rolls matter

By Tate Rosentreter
The Center Square

Following news that about 6,600 noncitizens were added to New Jersey’s voter rolls from June 2023 to June 2024 and 400 of them voted, election integrity advocates criticized the state’s negligence while noting the election safeguards such as proof of citizenship and identity that must be put in place by states.

Vice president of the Honest Elections Project Chad Ennis told The Center Square that “in 2025, New Jersey had at least three elections decided by a single vote or less.”

“Non-citizens are not allowed to vote” but “if someone is on the voter rolls, it is likely that they will be allowed to vote,” Ennis said.

“And that is just what we saw in New Jersey. 400 ineligible noncitizen voters voted in the state’s elections,” Ennis said.

“That matters,” Ennis said. “Every vote counts.”

Ennis said “it takes diligence to have accurate voter rolls.”

“Voter list maintenance is fairly simple, but it takes desire to have clean rolls and the will to do the work,” Ennis said.

“New Jersey demonstrated neither the desire nor the will to keep ineligible non-citizens off its rolls,” Ennis said.

“They continue to dig deeper by not turning over the data on this disaster to the federal government, so that, at a minimum, the 400 people who illegally voted can be investigated and charged with crimes, if the facts warrant it,” Ennis said.

Ennis said that for election security, “states should check that every registered voter is eligible to vote.”

“They need to check citizenship, identity, and residency at a minimum,” Ennis said. “They need to check their existing lists and check all new potential registrants using all available state and Federal data.”

Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s media referred The Center Square to a statement from the governor as well as her comments from a press conference.

In her statement, Sherrill said the placement of 6,600 noncitizens on the New Jersey voter roll was “a serious software error” that took place before she was in office and that she ordered an investigation and a removal of residents “erroneously added” to the rolls from June 2023 to June 2024.

The Center Square reported last week that New Jersey was found to have around 6,600 noncitizens on its voter rolls and that 400 of them had voted in recent elections.

Honest Elections Project’s executive director Jason Snead noted to The Center Square the ill effect voting has on noncitizens, themselves.

Snead said that “New Jersey is setting up lawful noncitizens seeking citizenship for failure.”

“By registering them to vote, the state of New Jersey is jeopardizing their ability to become lawful citizens, since the naturalization process requires applicants to attest they have not registered to vote,” Snead said.