Don't let Trump exploit NJ's blunder on voter rolls
By: Christine Todd whitman
Your Turn
Guest columnist
..... New Jerseyans have every right to be angry about the serious software failure at the Motor Vehicle Commission. I know I am.
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This failure goes beyond broken systems. It touches the public's confidence in elections, already strained after years of attacks from President Donald Trump.
..... Ineligible voters on the rolls is a serious issue, and it's especially troubling that it appears that members of a previous administration covered it up.
..... Public confidence grows when leaders reveal mistakes and addressees them; it collapses when they conceal failures, dismiss legitimate questions or substitute partisan slogans for verified facts. It's heartening hat Governor Mikie Sherrill made this issue public and immediately launched an investigation. That is what responsible movement looks like: identify the problem, tell the public, fix it and determine who should be held accountable.
..... That's why I have full confidence that she will approach this investigation with the thoroughness and precision it deserves. Her background as a Navy helicopter pilot and former federal prosecutor prepared her to approach this kind of situation with discipline, urgency and respect for the rule of law.
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New Jersey must also reject the cynical effort by President Donald Trump and his far-right allies to turn this administrative failure into any systemic argument about American elections or non-citizen voting. The facts do not support the claim.
..... The individuals involved reportedly told the state that they were not citizens; the system registered them anyway. That is evidence of a grave software and oversight failure, not evidence of a coordinated conspiracy by thousands of people to steal an election.
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There is a profound difference between confronting a documented error and manufacturing distrust for political gain. Trump has spent years spreading false claims about the 2020 election, pressuring public officials and attempting to overturn a lawful result. His conduct helped bring our democracy to the brink on January 6. [2021] He has attacked election officials and promoted conspiracy theories whenever the truth has been politically inconvenient.
..... That record matter no, Trump's goal is not simply to improve election administrator. It is to persuade Americans that elections are legitimate only when he wins. That idea is fundamentally incompatible with democracy.
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Protecting election integrity requires two commitments at once. We must ensure that only eligible citizens vote, and we must reject lies designed to undermine voters' confidence in our elections. those principles are not in conflict. They are mutually reinforcing.
..... Governor Sherrill has taken the essential step: telling the public, after the previous administration did not. Now New Jersey must follow the facts whenever they lead - and defend democracy from those who would use any failure as an excuse to weaken it.
..... The Honorable Christine Todd Whitman was governor of New Jersey form 1994 to 2001.