RNC Sues Blue State Over Voter Rolls Ahead Of Razor Close Gubernatorial Race

The Republican National Committee announced Thursday that it had filed a lawsuit against the New Jersey Division of Elections after they failed to comply with an open records request regarding the state’s voter rolls. The move comes as Trump-backed gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli is polling neck-and-neck with his Democrat challenger in the longtime blue state.

The RNC filed their initial motion on March 25, which requested records concerning New Jersey’s voter roll maintenance and voting machine seal audit logs, according to a report from the Daily Caller. A follow-up request was filed on June 3, though both requests went unanswered by New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way, a Democrat.

One June 16 and July 3, the RNC requested relevant records via letter, and the Secretary of State’s office released partial responses to three of the 18 original requests.

The RNC is also sending a letter to the Department of Justice, which requests an investigation into Way’s potential failure to comply with the National Voter Registration Act. RNC Chairman Michael Whatley has pointed to the fact that the Garden State has significantly higher voter registration rates than the national average.

In addition, the organization sent an additional letter to Way requesting an explanation for the state’s refusal to comply with the OPRA, which requires relevant officials to comply with records requests within seven days. The New Jersey Division of Elections allegedly ignored the RNC’s original requests.

“It’s very important that you have the states maintain their voter rolls,” Whatley told Newsmax on Friday. “Actually, it’s a federal law that they have to clean their voter rolls every single year. So, we simply sent a letter out to every single state, including New Jersey, and said, ‘Hey, it’s federal law that you got to do this. When’s the last time you did it and what are you going to do to secure those rolls for this year?'”

The lawsuit was necessary, Whatley explained, after Way’s office failed to respond. “We sent them a follow-up letter. They did not respond. We sent them a follow-up letter. They did not respond. So, yesterday we filed a lawsuit and we’re going to go to federal court and we’re going to say, ‘Hey, you have to abide by this. You’ve got to clean up your voter rolls.’ We also sent a letter to the Department of Justice and said, ‘Hey, they are not following federal law. We think that you should take a look at this.'”

The lawsuit comes as Jack Ciattarelli, the Trump-backed Republican gubernatorial candidate, is polling within the margin of error against U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ). Ciattarelli almost pulled off an upset over incumbent Governor Phil Murphy, who is term-limited, in 2021.

Despite a massive fundraising disadvantage and polling averages predicting a double-digit win for Murphy, the Democrat managed to hold on by just 3.2 percentage points.

As Election Day inches ever closer, Ciattarelli is once again well positioned to pull off an upset. According to a recent poll from Cygnal, the Republican candidate is trailing Sherrill by just one percentage point.

New Jersey shocked election analysts last year when the state experienced one of the widest rightward shifts in the country. Former Vice President Kamala Harris defeated Trump by just under six percentage points in the state, securing 51.8 percent of the vote to Trump’s 45.9 percent.

For comparison, President Biden carried New Jersey with 57.3 percent of the vote in 2020, while just 41.4 percent voted for Trump.