The decision came shortly after Gov. Mikie Sherril revealed that New Jersey mistakenly placed 6,600 noncitizens on its voter rolls during 2023 and 2024.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A federal judge has dismissed the Justice Department’s effort to force New Jersey to provide unredacted voter registration records containing residents’ driver’s license information and partial Social Security numbers.
U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi ruled that the federal government could not compel the state to surrender the protected personal information, giving New Jersey a victory in a dispute over voter privacy and federal access to election records.
The ruling came one week after New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherril disclosed that the state had accidentally added 6,600 noncitizens to its voter rolls between 2023 and 2024.
The dispute began in July 2025, when the Justice Department requested a copy of New Jersey’s statewide voter registration list as part of a broader national effort to collect voter records, according to Politico.
The New Jersey Division of Elections complied with the request but redacted voters’ driver’s license numbers and the final four digits of their Social Security numbers. State officials said releasing those details would create privacy concerns.
After New Jersey refused to provide an unredacted version of the voter list, the Justice Department sued the state in February.
Quraishi issued his decision without hearing oral arguments. In rejecting the department’s request, he cited more than a dozen rulings in similar disputes involving other states that reached the same conclusion.
The decision leaves the Justice Department with access to New Jersey’s voter registration list but not the sensitive identifying information the state withheld.
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