On Tuesday, interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced what she called an “Election Integrity Task Force”, to be made up of prosecutors from her office who will work with the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies. The goal, Habba said, is to “preserve and protect the integrity of elections.”
Other priorities include investigating and prosecuting election crimes like voter registration fraud and voting by non-citizens, and to “efficiently and effectively remove individuals who are not eligible to vote from state voter lists.”
The task force is aimed at enforcing an executive order President Donald Trump signed on March 25. Parts of that order have been blocked by a judge – including mandates requiring proof of citizenship to vote. But other parts still stand, such as the provision directing states not to accept mail-in ballots received after Election Day.
New Jersey is among 18 states that count mail-in ballots received after Election Day if they are postmarked on or before that date.
Attorney General Matt Platkin is part of a multi-state lawsuit against the executive order, calling it an “egregious attack on voting rights” and arguing the White House is making an unconstitutional attempt to take control of elections away from the states.
Habba, a former personal attorney to Trump, has not been submitted to the U.S. Senate to be nominated to be the state’s top federal prosecutor. Trump named her to the post as a placeholder whose tenure is limited under federal law to 120 days.
