https://x.com/DHSgov/status/2081014613433369065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
New Jersey’s Jury Pool Has a Citizenship Problem
New Jersey court officials say roughly 75,000 noncitizens are summoned for jury duty in the state each year, according to figures reported by the New Jersey Globe. The state sends out more than one million jury summonses annually using records pulled at random from the Division of Elections, the Division of Taxation, and the Motor Vehicle Commission. Pete McAleer, a spokesman for the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts, said about 20% of people who respond report that they fail at least one legal requirement for jury service. About one-quarter of those disqualifications, averaging around 75,000 people a year over the last three years, are because the person is not a U.S. citizen. Under New Jersey law, only American citizens may serve on juries, which is not exactly a hidden clause written in invisible ink.
Officials Say Safeguards Stop Noncitizens From Serving
The judiciary says there are safeguards in place before anyone actually sits in the jury box. Prospective jurors must answer a mandatory qualification questionnaire that asks about citizenship and other requirements. Those who move forward are reminded of the rules during jury orientation, and judges, along with attorneys when allowed, can ask directly about citizenship during jury selection. McAleer told the New Jersey Globe there is no evidence noncitizens have served on juries since the added safeguards were put in place. That is good to hear, but it still leaves a pretty glaring question on the table: why are tens of thousands of noncitizens being swept into the system every year in the first place?
The Voter-Roll Mess Makes This More Than Paperwork
This comes as New Jersey is already under fire over a voter-registration problem tied to the state’s motor vehicle system. Democrat Gov. Mikie Sherrill recently acknowledged that a “serious software error” led to about 6,600 people who had identified themselves as noncitizens being registered to vote between June 2023 and June 2024. According to Sherrill, fewer than 400 of those improperly registered people later voted. The Justice Department has opened an investigation, and the blame game has been lively. Sherrill pointed to IDEMIA, the software contractor that transmits voter-registration information from the Motor Vehicle Commission, but the company said the state Division of Elections still had to validate and decide voter eligibility. In other words, the computer may have passed the paperwork along, but someone in government was still supposed to read it.
DHS Says the Databases Are Not Reliable Enough
The Department of Homeland Security highlighted the jury-duty figures and said New Jersey’s government databases are unreliable for making sure only Americans take part in civic institutions like elections and jury pools. That is the heart of the matter. Jury service and voting are not small clerical chores, like renewing a fishing license or signing up for a library card. They are core duties and rights tied to citizenship. If the same state systems are feeding jury summons lists and voter rolls, then errors in those systems deserve more than a shrug and a promise that everything is probably fine. Conservatives have been told for years that concerns about election records are wild conspiracy talk, yet here we are watching officials admit that thousands of self-identified noncitizens were registered to vote and tens of thousands more are being called for jury duty.
A Basic Citizenship Check Should Not Be Too Much to Ask
Micah Rasmussen of Rider University’s Rebovich Institute told the New Jersey Globe that the jury issue widens the scope of the problem and increases the need to act quickly and thoroughly. That is a polite academic way of saying the state has a mess on its hands. New Jersey officials should explain how these records are built, how errors are caught, who is responsible when they are not caught, and what will change before the next batch of summonses or voter registrations goes out. Nobody is saying every mistaken summons is proof of fraud, but nobody should pretend this is normal either. A government that can track your taxes, tolls, fees, and parking tickets with laser focus ought to be able to tell whether a person is eligible to vote or serve on a jury.
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JIMMY
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