Van Drew: “A Failure in New Jersey, a Warning for America”

August 31, 2026 — Last month, New Jersey officials acknowledged a massive failure in the state’s election safeguards. Approximately 6,600 people who self-identified as noncitizens were registered to vote while obtaining driver’s licenses or identification cards. Roughly 400 of those noncitizens actually cast ballots in New Jersey elections.

This breakdown in basic election safeguards should alarm every American.

These individuals expressly answered “no” when asked whether they were United States citizens, yet thousands were still registered to vote. That is not a minor clerical error. It is a catastrophic breakdown of one of the most basic safeguards in our election system: ensuring that only eligible American citizens are registered and permitted to vote.

Governor Mikie Sherrill blamed a software error involving IDEMIA, a technology company contracted by the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission. IDEMIA, however, has maintained that its role was limited to transmitting voter-registration information collected through the motor vehicle system and that the state Division of Elections was ultimately responsible for validating voter eligibility. If accurate, that raises serious questions about whether this failure extended beyond a software glitch to the state’s own eligibility-verification process.

New Jerseyans deserve answers. Who knew about this problem, and when? Why did it remain undetected for so long? How were people who affirmatively identified themselves as noncitizens nevertheless validated and registered? Which elections were affected? Have all of the affected registrations been removed? Are additional noncitizens still on the voter rolls? And what concrete safeguards are being put in place to ensure this never happens again?

That is why I led my Republican Study Committee colleagues in sending a letter to New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill demanding a full accounting of what happened. We asked how thousands of people who identified themselves as noncitizens were nevertheless registered, which elections were affected, whether any races were decided by margins smaller than the number of unlawfully cast ballots in those jurisdictions, whether all affected registrations have been removed, and what steps the state is taking before the 2026 election.

We also asked whether her administration would cooperate fully with Congress, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and other federal authorities investigating noncitizen registration and voting, and whether she supports requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Governor Sherrill has now responded to our letter, but her response did little to answer the questions that prompted it. Instead, she devoted three pages largely to political attacks while failing to directly answer the 12 questions Americans deserve answered. We still do not know which elections were affected, how individuals who identified themselves as noncitizens were validated as eligible voters, who knew about this failure, or who would be held accountable.

Her response raises more questions than it answers. This issue is not going away because the governor would rather attack the people asking questions than answer them. We will continue pursuing the facts through congressional oversight, including hearings and, if necessary, subpoenas.

This fight is bigger than one state or one election. It is about making sure Americans can trust that our elections are secure and that every citizen has confidence that his or her lawful vote matters.

Republicans have been sounding the alarm for years about weaknesses in voter-registration systems, inadequate voter-roll maintenance, and the risk that noncitizens may be registered and permitted to vote in federal elections. New Jersey’s admission demonstrates that these vulnerabilities are real and that even systems supposedly designed to screen out ineligible applicants can fail on a massive scale.

House Republicans have acted to address these vulnerabilities by passing the SAVE America Act and components of the bill four times.

The principle behind this legislation is straightforward: If you are going to register to vote in a federal election, you should be required to provide proof of citizenship, and if you are going to cast a federal ballot, you should be required to present photo identification.

These are commonsense safeguards. Americans routinely provide identification and documentation for important parts of everyday life. You need identification to board a plane. You need proof of identity to open a bank account, drive a car, and complete countless other transactions. You even need three forms of identification to shovel snow in New York City or sign up for all-you-can-eat pasta at Olive Garden.

Democrats have repeatedly responded to these basic safeguards with accusations of fearmongering rather than actual answers about how they would strengthen the integrity of our federal elections. Even though they are requiring photo ID to shop at their government-run grocery stores, they portray requiring voters to establish their identity at the ballot box as extreme.

What happened in New Jersey also comes amid concerns in other states about noncitizens appearing on voter rolls. In Virginia, for example, state records show that more than 6,500 registrations categorized as belonging to “declared noncitizens” were canceled between June 2024 and June 2026. Whether the cause is faulty software, inadequate oversight, poor communication, weak verification procedures, or some combination of them, Americans deserve to know exactly what happened and what states plan to do to ensure failures like this do not happen again.

Our federal elections are only as strong as the systems and people behind them. When a failure this serious occurs, political attacks are not a substitute for answers. Confidence in our elections depends on transparency, enforceable safeguards, thorough investigations, and meaningful accountability.

Every lawful American voter deserves confidence that only eligible citizens are participating in our elections. We will not stop fighting until that confidence is restored and every lawful vote is protected.

###