Last week, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill stunned media by admitting some 6,600 noncitizens registered to vote in New Jersey due to what the Governor alleged was a “software error” in the state’s motor vehicle commission system. According to Governor Sherrill “preliminary analysis” showed fewer than 400 of those people actually voted. How did this happen and is 6,600 the true number of non-citizens registered to vote in New Jersey? The answers may surprise you.
First, Only American Citizens May Legally Vote in Elections in New Jersey
Illegal aliens, legal permanent residents, foreigners in this Country on student visas, work visas, visitor’s visas and others are NOT eligible to vote in federal elections. 18 U.S.C. §611 specifically makes voting by “aliens” a crime. This statute provides, in part:
“Alien,” for purposes of the criminal statute cited above, is defined in yet another federal statute, 8 U.S.C. §1101 as follows:
(The prohibition on illegals voting passed in 1996 as part of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.)
Likewise, Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 3 of the New Jersey State Constitution limits the right to vote to citizens only:
Therefore, federal law and NJ state law clearly provides only American citizens are eligible to register to vote or vote in NJ elections.
How Does Our Law Prevent Non-citizens from Registering to Vote?
The short answer is our law does virtually nothing to stop illegal aliens and other non-citizens from voting. I wrote about this issue in a couple of articles, one about the National Voter Registration Act and another about the Help America Vote Act.
The Federal Mail Voter Registration Form provides the clearest illustration of what federal law does to identify and prohibit non-citizens from voting. (Federal law requires states to accept the federal mail voter registration form to register voters. See 52 USC 20505.) This voter registration form provides the following:
Right there, in the top left block on the first page of the federal mail voter registration form is ALL federal law allows to screen out non-citizens, i.e., one simple question: Are you a citizen of the United States of America? Here is the question blown up:
THAT IS ALL THE PROOF federal law currently allows to be gathered about citizenship status for registering to vote in federal elections.
In fact, the federal Help America Vote Act requires states to register people to vote who do not have a valid ID or Social Security Number. For people without ID or a Social Security Number, the law requires the state to “assign the applicant a number which will serve to identify the applicant for voter registration purposes.” See 52 USC 21083(a)(5)(A)(ii).
Then the same law requires states to accept current utility bills, bank statements, government checks, paychecks or other government documents showing the name and address of the voter as proof of identification for purposes of voting. See 52 USC 21083(b)(2)(a)(i)(II).
Federal law literally relies on the “honor system” to weed out illegal aliens and other non-citizens from voting. An illegal alien or other non-citizen may register to vote by simply checking the “yes” box and claiming to be a citizen.
What Happened in New Jersey?
In New Jersey, with respect to the 6,600 non-citizens recently disclosed as being registered to vote, the State of New Jersey could not even effectively exclude people from registering to vote when they checked they WERE NOT citizens on the registration form.
According to NJ Governor Sherrill:
The Governor blamed the error on a “software glitch,” but the software company disputed this contention in a statement to Just the News:
The State of New Jersey registered some 6,600 non-citizens to vote EVEN WHEN THEY CHECKED the “No, I am not a US Citizen box.” Unbelievable.
What if each of these non-citizens checked the “yes, I am a citizen” box? You can bet they would be registered to vote.
How Many Non-Citizens are Registered to Vote in New Jersey?
No one knows for sure, but evidence points to tens of thousands of non-citizens being registered to vote in New Jersey (and elsewhere).
Keep in mind the National Voter Registration Act requires an application for a state driver’s license to serve as an application for voter registration.
Also, the State of New Jersey allows illegal aliens to obtain driver's licenses, after changing its law in 2021 for this express purpose.
Every time an illegal alien applies for a driver’s license in New Jersey (or in any other state which allows illegal aliens to obtain a driver’s license), that driver’s license application serves as a voter registration application and the only thing stopping the person from being registered to vote is if he or she checks the “No - I am not a citizen” box.
According to the United States Department of Homeland Security identified over 35,000 non-citizens registered to vote in a preliminary review of the state’s records:
The State of New Jersey’s own records show the numbers of non-citizens registered to vote are likely much higher. For instance, in New Jersey only US citizens are allowed to serve on juries.
New Jersey state judicial records, however, reflect up to 75,000 per year are disqualified from jury duty due to not being citizens of the United States:
The number of illegal aliens and other non-citizens registered to vote in New Jersey is likely far higher than even the Department of Homeland Security’s estimate.
Conclusion
Illegal aliens and other non-citizens do not have the right to vote in federal elections or New Jersey state elections. Excluding non-citizens from voting, however, is done on the “honor system.” Despite the obvious problems, numerous states, including New Jersey refuse to produce voter rolls to the US DOJ. In fact, the NJ Governor refuses to even produce records of the 6,600 non-citizens admittedly registered to vote in NJ. New Jersey also refuses to cooperate with federal immigration agents.
Furthermore, Democrats in Washington, D.C., oppose the SAVE Act, which would require valid ID to register to vote and vote, despite the fact over 80% of Americans support voter ID. The Trump Administration is working to fix the problem, but it will ultimately be up to Congress to right the ship. If the Democrats have their way, that will not happen. Meanwhile, ineligible people will continue to register to vote and vote in our elections, canceling out the votes of actual American citizens, while Democrats in Washington pay lip service to “voter rights.”