Van Drew calls hearing on NJ voter registration scandal

🗳️ Rep. Jeff Van Drew will hold a congressional hearing into the voter registration scandal involving roughly 6,600 people.

❓ Van Drew says Gov. Mikie Sherrill failed to answer questions he and other House Republicans submitted about the registration failure.

🏛️ It remains unclear whether Sherrill administration officials will testify at the Sept. 15 hearing.

New Jersey voting scandal heads to Congress

New Jersey's voter registration scandal is headed to Washington.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew will convene a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing Sept. 15 to investigate how approximately 6,600 people who indicated they were not U.S. citizens were improperly registered to vote through New Jersey's Motor Vehicle Commission system.

Van Drew, R-N.J., chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, which has the power to call witnesses, request documents and issue subpoenas.

The hearing is titled "Restoring Election Integrity: Oversight of Voter Fraud in New Jersey."

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (AP Photo/Mel Evans, File)

Sherrill refuses to answer Van Drew's questions

Van Drew previously joined 17 other House Republicans in demanding answers from Gov. Mikie Sherrill about how the registration failure happened, why it went undetected and whether any state officials or contractors would be held accountable.

"How do you know this was just a software glitch and not a nefarious act?" Van Drew asked in his July letter, according to the New Jersey Globe.

Sherrill did respond to Van Drew, but did not directly answer the questions he submitted. Instead, she accused Republicans of politicizing the issue.

"Instead of answering those questions, Governor Sherrill responded with Democratic talking points, attacks on President Trump, and personal attacks against me," Van Drew told the Globe. "Her response was a political hit piece."

Gov. Mikie Sherrill at Union Baptist Church in Trenton on Tuesday, July 28, 2026. (Office of Governor/Tim Larsen)

Independent investigation underway

Sherrill says a software error caused the improper registrations between June 2023 and June 2024, before she became governor. She ordered an independent investigation led by former New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa.

State officials say about 5,100 registrations have since been removed, while others required additional review because some of those initially flagged may actually be citizens.

Approximately 400 of the 6,600 people cast ballots, according to the state.

It is not yet clear whether anyone from the Sherrill administration will be called to testify before Van Drew's committee — or whether administration officials would voluntarily appear.

Van Drew says the hearing is bigger than partisan politics.

"This was never about Governor Sherrill or any one political party," he told the Globe. "It is about New Jersey and the integrity of our country's elections."

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