A federal judge in New Jersey dealt another blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to access state voter rolls, blocking the Justice Department from obtaining unredacted records on Wednesday. District Judge Zahid Quraishi, a Biden appointee, ruled that handing over the computerized voter registration list could raise privacy concerns for voters.
The ruling is the latest defeat for President Donald Trump‘s administration, which had sued New Jersey along with Utah, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and West Virginia for access to their voter rolls earlier this year. The DOJ argued that Title III of the Civil Rights Act granted federal authorities the power to inspect such records, but Quraishi disagreed. “The plain text of Title III applies only to records ‘which come into’ election officers’ ‘possession’ and thus does not extend to New Jersey’s computerized VRL [voter registration list] – a document the State itself created,” he wrote.
The case has taken on new urgency in light of a recent statewide controversy. Last week, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill admitted that a “serious software error” led to the mistaken registration of roughly 6,600 noncitizens through the state’s Motor Vehicle System. Sherrill said she immediately ordered an investigation and that the state’s Division of Elections is removing ineligible voters from the rolls. She noted that fewer than 400 of those improperly registered actually cast ballots.
State Senator Declan O’Scanlon called for an independent investigation and even federal oversight. “In New Jersey, we absolutely need to have accountability for what happened,” he said. “It was just horrible. There was a big problem with that computer problem that they had. We need to try to address that going forward.”
Further complicating matters, reports surfaced this week that roughly 75,000 noncitizens had been summoned for jury duty through state databases, broadening the controversy beyond the Motor Vehicle Commission. The development prompted additional Republican calls for a wider investigation.
The DOJ’s lawsuit predated last week’s disclosure, but the administration had tried to use the noncitizen registration error as leverage to obtain the records. Governor Sherrill had formally told the DOJ on Tuesday that she would not release personal information about the improperly registered noncitizens. The Trump administration is expected to appeal Quraishi’s ruling.