
共和党人已向新泽西州州长米基·谢里尔的政府发出传票,要求提供该州非公民选民登记失误的相关记录,兑现了他们在7月首次披露数千名非公民被意外登记时提出的威胁。
Republicans have subpoenaed New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration for records on the state’s noncitizen voter snafu, making good on a threat they leveled when the accidental registration of thousands of noncitizens was first revealed in July.
众议院司法委员会和行政委员会的共和党领袖表示,在数月的请求后,谢里尔政府仅提供了12份与机动车委员会错误相关的文件,该错误导致数千名非公民在她当选前被列入该州选民名册。
The Republican leaders of the House Judiciary and Administration Committees said that after months of requests, Sherrill’s administration has only produced 12 documents related to the Motor Vehicle Commission error that allowed thousands of noncitizens onto the state’s voter rolls before she was elected.
众议院司法委员会主席吉姆·乔丹(共和党-俄亥俄州)、行政委员会主席布赖恩·斯泰尔(共和党-威斯康星州)以及众议员劳雷尔·李(共和党-佛罗里达州)和杰夫·范德鲁(共和党-新泽西州)在致代理州务卿雪莉·埃梅赫卢的信中写道:“州务部未能提交所有回应性文件,阻碍了委员会进行监督和考虑立法改革的能力。”
“The Department [of State]’s failure to produce all responsive documents has impeded the Committees’ ability to conduct oversight and consider legislative reforms,” House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), House Administration Chair Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) and Reps. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.) and Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) wrote in a letter to acting Secretary of State Shirley Emehelu.
传票要求埃梅赫卢——她在前副州长戴尔·考德威尔于9月25日辞职后接任——在11月16日前遵守共和党提出的大量记录要求。
The subpoena gives Emehelu — who took over for former Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell following his Sept. 25 resignation — until Nov. 16 to comply with the extensive records demands Republicans have made.
谢里尔回应称,自错误被发现以来,她的政府已“超额完成”改革该州选举管理流程的工作,并尽可能多地向选民提供信息。
Sherrill responded that since the error was uncovered, her administration has gone “above and beyond” to reform the state’s election administration processes and provide voters with as much information as possible.
谢里尔在一份声明中说:“华盛顿的共和党人不采取实际行动让我们的选举更安全,也不解决美国人关心的问题,如飞涨的物价,却选择在中期选举前仅13天玩政治游戏。”
“Instead of actually doing anything to make our elections safer or addressing issues Americans care about, like skyrocketing prices, Washington Republicans are choosing to play political games just thirteen days before the midterm elections,” Sherrill said in a statement.
7月21日,谢里尔宣布,从2023年6月到2024年6月,即她就职前几年,有6600名在机动车管理局(MVC)登记时将自己标记为非公民的人被登记为选民;其中约400人后来投了票。此后,谢里尔持续发布其政府清理错误登记名单的进展更新,并委托进行了一项仍在进行中的独立调查。
On July 21, Sherrill announced that from June 2023 until June 2024, several years before she took office, 6,600 people who marked themselves as noncitizens at the MVC were registered to vote; around 400 of those individuals later cast ballots. Sherrill has released steady updates since then on her administration’s progress in purging the rolls of erroneous registrations, and her administration commissioned an independent probe that remains underway.
然而,共和党人迅速要求提供更多信息,向谢里尔、考德韦尔和IDEMIA——谢里尔指责为该错误责任方的供应商——发送了多封信函,索要关于错误如何发生以及哪些选民受影响的文件。
Republicans, however, quickly demanded more information, sending several letters to Sherrill, Caldwell and IDEMIA — the vendor that Sherrill blamed for the error — asking for documents on how the error came about and which voters were affected.
新泽西州共和党人范德鲁在错误曝光几天后表示,如果谢里尔不配合,他和共和党同僚“绝对在探讨”发出传票。他还警告称,如果民主党在中期选举中重夺众议院控制权,共和党可能没有太多时间继续调查:“随着中期选举临近,如果我们不能保住多数党地位,这一切不就会烟消云散了吗?”他在8月说道。
Van Drew, a New Jersey Republican, said a few days after the error was revealed that he and his fellow Republicans were “absolutely exploring” subpoenas if Sherrill didn’t comply. He has also warned that Republicans may not have long to pursue their investigation if Democrats regain control of the House: “With a midterm election coming up, if we don’t keep the majority, will it all just go away?” he said in August.
谢里尔政府表示将配合部分国会要求,但共和党人指控,政府官员最终仅提供了少量外围文件,如电子会议邀请函和州选举部门发给县级选举管理人员的一封电子邮件,这些文件无法解释错误是如何被发现的,以及为何修复花费了如此长时间。
The Sherrill administration indicated it would cooperate with some of those congressional requests, but Republicans allege that administration officials only ended up producing a handful of peripheral documents, such as electronic meeting invites and an email from the state’s Elections Division to county-level election administrators, that don’t explain how the error was discovered and why it took so long to fix it.
根据发给埃梅赫卢的信函,新泽西州官员以“特权问题”为由拖延并拒绝了部分请求,共和党人抨击这一解释站不住脚。
According to the letter sent to Emehelu, New Jersey officials cited “privilege issues” as the reason for delaying and denying some requests, an explanation that Republicans blasted as insufficient.
信中指出:“在缺乏更多细节的情况下,很难令人相信,所有未被提交的、回应委员会请求的文件都享有特权,或者这些特权正被适当援引。”
“Without additional details, it strains credulity to believe that every document responsive to the Committees’ request that has not been produced is privileged or that the privileges are being appropriately invoked,” the letter states.
司法部也要求提供更多关于该错误的信息,一度暗示因该错误而投票的非公民可能会被起诉。7月28日,谢里尔以联邦隐私法为由,拒绝了政府要求提供这些非公民个人详细信息的请求。
The Department of Justice also made demands for more information on the error, at one point suggesting that noncitizens who voted due to the error could be prosecuted. Sherrill rebuffed the administration’s requests for personal details on those noncitizens on July 28, citing federal privacy laws.