DOJ Official Says Gov. Mikie Sherrill Knew Voter Roll Bombshell Was Coming Before Calling President Trump A Liar
A senior Justice Department official is accusing New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill of knowingly dismissing President Donald Trump‘s election integrity concerns just days before her administration disclosed that thousands of noncitizens had been improperly added to the state’s voter rolls.
Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said Sherrill signed a public statement accusing President Trump of spreading falsehoods about elections even though she was already aware that New Jersey was preparing to announce a major voter registration error involving more than 35,000 potentially ineligible registrations. Dhillon said the governor’s actions undermined public confidence and called the timing “shameful.”
The controversy stems from President Trump’s recent claims that election officials in several Democratic-led states were failing to maintain accurate voter rolls. Sherrill joined a coalition of Democratic governors in condemning those remarks, accusing the president of attempting to undermine confidence in American elections. Days later, however, New Jersey acknowledged that thousands of individuals who indicated they were not U.S. citizens had nevertheless been placed on the voter rolls because of a software malfunction.
According to the state, the registration error occurred between 2023 and 2024 through the Motor Vehicle Commission’s automatic voter registration system. Officials said the software defect resulted in approximately 6,600 noncitizens being registered to vote, with fewer than 400 casting ballots before the problem was discovered. Gov. Sherrill said the issue originated under the previous administration, blamed a software vendor, and launched an investigation while removing the affected registrations.
Dhillon argued that the disclosure vindicated President Trump’s calls for stronger election safeguards and criticized Sherrill for refusing to provide requested voter information to the Justice Department. She warned that states failing to cooperate with federal election investigations could face legal action, emphasizing that only U.S. citizens are permitted to vote in federal elections.
Sherrill has defended her response, saying her administration acted quickly once the problem was identified and accusing the Trump administration of attempting to politicize the incident rather than focusing on correcting the underlying error. She has declined the Justice Department’s request for personal information about the affected registrants while her administration conducts its own investigation.
The dispute has intensified the national debate over election integrity ahead of the midterm elections. President Trump and congressional Republicans have pointed to the New Jersey case as further justification for the SAVE America Act and other measures requiring proof of citizenship and stronger voter verification, while Democratic officials maintain the incident was an isolated administrative failure that is already being corrected.