New Jersey Republicans ask for federal monitors in critical county ahead of governor's election

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The U.S. Department of Justice is reviewing a request from New Jersey Republicans to send election monitors to oversee the handling of mail ballots in a key county that will help settle the state's Nov. 4 governor's race.

The New Jersey Republican State Committee told Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, in a letter that federal intervention is necessary to ensure an accurate vote count in Passaic County.

State officials disputed that characterization and called any federal intervention “highly inappropriate.”

The suburban county has been a Democratic stronghold. But it shifted to President Donald Trump's column in 2024 and may be critical to GOP gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli’s hopes against Democratic nominee Mikie Sherrill.

New Jersey Republicans asked specifically for federal monitors to “oversee the receipt and processing of vote-by-mail ballots” and “take steps to monitor access to the Board of Elections around the clock.”

Justice Department spokesman Gates McGavick said in a statement that the agency “is committed to upholding the integrity of our electoral system and is reviewing this request to ensure all elections remain free, fair, and transparent.”

The New Jersey GOP request cited previous voter fraud cases in the county, alleging a “long and sordid history" of vote-by-mail shenanigans and asserting that state officials have not done enough in response.

Michael Zhadanovsky, a spokesman for New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin, said in a statement that it “would be highly inappropriate for the federal government to interfere in this November's state election.”

The U.S. Constitution, Zhadanovsky noted, “gives states, not the federal government, the primary responsibility for running elections,” and he said New Jersey “is committed to ensuring the integrity of our elections and protecting the right of every eligible to have their vote counted.”

Platkin is a Democrat.

While voter fraud does occur, it is rare and there are safeguards in place to prevent it. But Passaic County drew Trump’s attention in 2020 as a case study in what could happen in an election conducted mostly by mail.

A judge ordered a new election for a city council seat in Paterson — the largest city in Passaic County — after the apparent winner and others were charged with voter fraud. The Passaic County Board of Elections decided not to count 800 ballots cast in the race after the U.S. Postal Service’s law enforcement arm said hundreds of mail-in ballots were located in a mailbox in Paterson, along with more found in nearby Haledon.

In 2024, Trump became the first Republican presidential nominee to win Passaic County in more than 30 years. He carried the heavily Latino city of Passaic and significantly increased his support in Paterson, the state’s third-largest city, which is majority Latino and has a large Muslim community.

That performance was part of Trump dramatically improving his statewide performance in New Jersey. In 2020, he lost the state by nearly 16 percentage points to Demcorat Joe Biden. Trump narrowed that margin to 6 percentage points last year in his matchup against Democrat Kamala Harris.

Trump has for years questioned mail voting as part of his repeated false claims that Biden's national victory in 2020 was rigged. Trump has suggested that mail balloting is riddled with fraud, despite analyses that show no widespread fraud in U.S. elections. Earlier this year, Trump pledged to ban vote-by-mail across the country, something he has no power to do under the U.S. Constitution.