By Matt Rooney
Remember when Trenton insisted New Jersey’s election system had all the necessary safeguards?
Then Governor Mikie Sherrill revealed that approximately 6,600 people who specifically indicated they were not U.S. citizens nevertheless wound up registered to vote between June 2023 and June 2024.
Now comes another revelation—this time courtesy of the New Jersey Globe.
According to the NJ Globe, roughly 75,000 people every year receive New Jersey jury summonses before informing the state they are not American citizens.
Court officials are quick to reassure everyone there’s nothing to worry about. They say there is no evidence noncitizens have actually served on juries because the judiciary has safeguards in place.
Let’s examine those “safeguards.”
According to the Administrative Office of the Courts, prospective jurors are asked whether they’re citizens when completing a questionnaire. They’re reminded again during orientation. They watch a video explaining the rules. Then judges and attorneys ask about citizenship during jury selection.
In other words, the government’s safeguard is… asking the person.
That’s not independent verification.
That’s the honor system.
And after the MVC voter registration debacle, New Jerseyans are supposed to find that comforting?
Remember, according to Governor Sherrill’s own account, thousands of people answered “no” when asked whether they were U.S. citizens while conducting business at the Motor Vehicle Commission. Somehow, despite that answer, they were still added to the voter rolls.
The state now says that was a software failure.
Fine.
But if government databases can be wrong in one context, why should anyone assume they’re infallible in another? Our jury pools are compiled using records from the Motor Vehicle Commission, the Division of Taxation, and the Division of Elections—the very kinds of interconnected government databases now under intense scrutiny.
Instead of independently verifying eligibility before issuing summonses, the state simply asks recipients to tell officials if the government’s records are wrong.
Complete reliance on self-reporting is not a safeguard.
A safeguard is something that catches mistakes even when government records are inaccurate—or when someone chooses not to volunteer the truth. After Trenton spent years insisting there was nothing to see regarding election integrity—only to acknowledge that thousands of noncitizens were improperly registered to vote—the public has every right to scrutinize assurances that amount to, “Don’t worry… we ask people if they’re eligible.”
That’s no longer good enough.
Trust in government isn’t rebuilt through press releases or carefully worded reassurances. It’s rebuilt by replacing faith-based systems with verification-based systems.
If New Jersey truly wants residents to believe its institutions are secure, “we asked nicely” cannot continue to be presented as a meaningful safeguard.
