WASHINGTON — Former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac is calling on the Trump administration to send federal election monitors to New Jersey after officials acknowledged that hundreds of noncitizens had voted.
In a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche and Robert Frazer, the U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey, Kranjac said problems with the state’s voter rolls “warrant further federal scrutiny.”
“The state has not disclosed the magnitude of the problem or the identity of non-citizen registered voters, which likely results from our Governor’s continuation of unlawful sanctuary state policies that provide certain protections and services to noncitizens at taxpayer expense,” Kranjac wrote.
“Given the state’s reluctance to cooperate, my experience as an elected official in the state leads me to believe the problem could be significantly larger than Gov. Mikie Sherrill is willing to admit or confront publicly,” he added.
Kranjac, a Republican, served as mayor of Englewood Cliffs — home to CNBC’s headquarters — from 2016 through 2024.
In July, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill said 6,600 people who answered “no” when asked whether they were U.S. citizens had been added to the state’s voter rolls. About 400 of them cast ballots in elections held since 2023.
Sherrill attributed the problem to a “serious software error” in the state’s Motor Vehicle System involving IDEMIA, a French technology company. IDEMIA, however, disputed that description.
The company said it had not been responsible for adding the voters to the rolls and maintained that state officials had access to information showing that the individuals were not U.S. citizens. Federal law bars noncitizens from voting in federal elections.
The controversy followed a Department of Homeland Security suggestion that more than 35,000 noncitizens could be listed on New Jersey’s voter rolls. Sherrill said publicly over the summer that her administration had not received sufficient information about the allegation.
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“She just says what people want to hear, but she didn’t actually give names,” Kranjac told The Post. “It’s all still anonymous. I don’t think the Department of Justice has been able to get it out of her. Quite frankly, she should be brought in front of Congress and made to testify.”
Kranjac’s letter also argued that “[e]very eligible citizen has an interest in knowing that lawful votes are not diluted by ballots cast by those who are ineligible to participate.”
He noted that, according to Census data, New Jersey generally ranks among the states with the largest shares of foreign-born residents who are not eligible to run for office.
A spokesperson for Sherrill responded by attacking Republicans, saying, “[T]heir President incited an insurrection on the nation’s Capitol, killing innocent people, so he could continue his lie that he wasn’t handily beaten in 2020, and is now weaponizing the Federal government to try to suppress the votes of millions of people across the country.”
“Donald Trump and his followers know the American people are about to soundly reject his corruption, his reckless and endless war in Iran, and his driving up prices for every family, and to stop it, they are trying to keep Americans from voting.”
Beyond requesting federal election monitors, Kranjac wants the Trump administration to investigate possible illegal voting, ensure New Jersey’s voter rolls are corrected and clarify DHS’s claim that more than 35,000 noncitizens may be registered to vote.
Blanche has defended the administration’s plans for federal election oversight during the midterm cycle.
“Since the ’60s, the Department of Justice has monitored elections. Every single election has been monitored,” Blanche said on “Fox News Sunday.” “President Trump is doing the same thing that every single administration has done in our generation.”
“This happens in every single election. And of course, we’re going to do it. Of course, we’re going to make sure the law is followed.”
