New Jersey citizens generally trust government, and believe that the State verifies that each person registering to vote IS a citizen of the U.S. – but THAT’S NOT TRUE. NO New Jersey LAW specifically requires citizenship to be verified. BIG PROBLEM❗️
The NJ State Constitution (Art. II, Sec. I, Sec. 3a) loosely says, “Every citizen of the United States, of the age of 18 years, who shall have been a a resident of this State and of the county in which he claims his vote 30 days, next before the election, shall be entitled to vote for all officers that now are or hereafter my be elective by the people, and upon all questions which may be submitted to a vote of the people”
NJ has two procedures for voter registration:
1) COUNTY ELECTIONS PERSONNEL process local voter applications, changes of address, removal of deceased, and “moves.” How this is done varies among the counties. For these processes, NJ “relies” on the “Honor System.” People registering to vote self-certify that they are a U.S. Citizen and a resident. Nobody verifies it.
The penalty for lying is a fine “up to $15,000”, jail of 3-5 years, or both. (N.J.S.A. 19:34-1) – IF the question arises, and circumstances initiate an investigation, and charges of fraud are filed, and a court then adjudges the person guilty – then these penalties can apply. Very seldom happens.
2) THE MOTOR VEHICLE COMMISSION (MVC), beginning at least as early as 2018, was separately directed to begin sharing name and address information with the Division of Elections within the NJ Secretary of State’s office for the purpose of registering people to vote. This process bypassed and superseded the County Elections responsibilities. Under P.L.2018, c.6 (or A2014), MVC customers – in person or conducting a transaction by mail – were presented with a prompt asking if they wished to register to vote. They had to affirm their eligibility, under penalty of perjury, to proceed. Effectively, they had to “opt-in” or affirmatively express their intent to register to vote during the transaction, although the system was designed to register them unless they specifically declined the prompt.
In January 2026, the Legislature changed the Elections interface procedure at the MVC by enacting P.L. 2025, c.204 (or S1636 of 2025). The customer “prompt” was eliminated. Now, the Motor Vehicle Commission is directed to forward name and address information to the State Division of Elections for “automatic” voter registration. The new procedure is supposed to FILTER transactions like this:
A) If Applicants provide documents that confirm citizenship (e.g., U.S. Passport) – they are automatically registered to vote.
B) If Applicants provide documents that fail to establish citizenship (e.g., a green card), they are automatically filtered out and not prompted or registered to vote. This is supposed to reduce the risk of unintentional non-citizen voter registration.
Once a person is registered to vote via an MVC transaction, a letter is then sent to that newly registered voter describing how they can remove their name from the Voter Rolls if they believe it has been added in error. (“opt-out”)
Interestingly, New Jersey LAW does not assign responsibility to any agent of the State to verify Citizenship BEFORE a person is added to the voter rolls. Yet, procedurally, the Division of Elections is supposed to verify each prospective voter’s eligibility before a person is registered to vote.
When a Federal component is involved in a New Jersey election (U.S. President, U.S. Senator, member of the U.S. House of Representatives, etc.), then Federal law overrides the State’s laws, under Federal legislation like the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). Federal law specifies that only U.S. Citizens can vote in Federal elections. There are penalties for violations. Given the cycles of how candidates run for office, the majority of elections come under these Federal rules.
