Fallout

Good morning!

The fallout continued Wednesday over Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s revelation that the state registered more than 6,000 non-citizens to vote and that about 400 of them actually cast ballots.

Sophie Nieto-Muñoz talked to Republicans who are homing in on two state laws they say are the culprit here: automatic voter registration at motor vehicle agencies and driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants. They want the laws revoked or, at minimum, rewritten, plus they seek a legislative investigative panel with subpeona power.

“I wasn’t shocked to learn that this was, in fact, happening. And I hope I’m wrong in this scenario — but I believe that this is more than likely the tip of the iceberg,” said Sen. Mike Testa (R).

Sherrill has attributed the issue to a software error that occurred for about a year starting in June 2023, though she said Tuesday the mistakenly registered residents were not taken off the voting rolls. The software company in question said state election officials are to blame.

Assemblywoman Vicky Flynn (R) said she hopes Democrats “stop demonizing people who raise questions over whether or not these voter rolls are accurate.”

“If this continues down the path that it seems,” she said, “it’s just going to be a fight of who hates Trump more, rather than making sure that our election rolls are accurate.”

Read more from Sophie.

More: New Jersey Republicans were largely unified in their messaging yesterday on the voter registration mess, though Union County Republican state Sen. Jon Bramnick was a notable exception. As GOPers spent the day pillorying Sherrill and her predecessor, Phil Murphy, Bramnick, whose legislative district saw its two Assembly seats flip from GOP to Dem last year, said this:

It, uh, did not get a warm reception from other Republicans.

The Murphys have been quiet about all this, though they’re probably at their Italian mansion or potentially Bedminster.

Environment: New Jersey environmentalists have filed a lawsuit targeted a state panel’s approval of a permit for the Northeast Supply Enhancement pipeline, which would run through six miles of the Raritan Bay. The plaintiffs say the state council approved the permit unlawfully. “Public lands, especially tidelands, are for the benefit of the people in New Jersey, to access beaches, to boat, to fish, and that needs to be respected. And it wasn’t here,” the group’s attorney Andrew J. Provence said.

Food: The mayors of Newark, Elizabeth, Hoboken, and more joined a letter from 200 American mayors calling on the federal government to reverse changes to the food stamp program. “When we’re talking about how to make sure that our residents are fed, that is something that worries Republican mayors, it worries Democratic mayors, it worries independent mayors. It worries everybody,” said Matt Tuerk, the Democratic mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania.

D.C.: A few Democrats joined House Republicans Wednesday to approve a bill to curb stock trading by members of Congress that was packaged with an unrelated voter ID bill. One of our Democrats, Josh Gottheimer, joined our three Republicans in favor while the other Dems voted no. The base bill, the Stop Insider Trading Act, would prohibit members of Congress and their spouses and close family members from purchasing certain stocks, and require a public notice and waiting period prior to selling stocks.