MAGA’s HABBA COMES AFTER JERSEY’S ELECTIONS
‘Make NJ Red’ U.S. attorney plans frontal assault on New Jersey’s election system
Alina Habba, in a photo from her Instagram, with “MAGA” on her foot.
Alina Habba, the former fashion marketer-turned U.S. attorney, by far the most unqualified person ever to the hold the office of the chief federal law enforcement officer in New Jersey, is coming for our elections.
And she’s doing it in a year in which New Jersey is one of only two states holding statewide elections, including electing a governor – elections that will signal which way the country is headed going into 2026.
An April 29 press release from Alina Habba’s office is entitled: “U.S. Attorney’s Office Announces Task Force to Preserve and Protect the Integrity of Elections.” The “task force,” whose specific members haven’t been announced yet, will include “law enforcement officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and other federal agencies.” It’s aimed, she says, at implementing President Trump’s March 25 executive order – one that’s been challenged and may be illegal – to constrict and regulate state elections.
Not that New Jersey’s elections need preserving and protecting. They’re doing fine, thanks.
Here’s what Habba wants to do, according to her announcement: use federal agents to “remove individuals who are not eligible to vote from State voter lists,” halt voter “fraud” and “voting by non-citizens” (which virtually never happens), and “ensure compliance with the voter list maintenance requirements.” So, if you show up at the polls on June 10 to vote in New Jersey’s primary and you’re told that you’re no longer on the list, thank Habba, the FBI, and DHS.
President Trump’s March 25 order, which Habba says that she’ll enforce in New Jersey, requires “documentary proof of U.S. citizenship” in order to register to vote. (That’s consistent with long-standing Republican party efforts to set up “voter ID” requirements for voting, each such law or regulation carefully calculated to suppress the votes of people likely to vote Democratic.)
All this from a president, and a party, which insists that the 2020 election was stolen.
As the Brennan Center – and countless other election specialists and researchers have shown – voter fraud is essentially nonexistent. In a report called “The Myth of Voter Fraud,” the Brennan Center said:
Politicians at all levels of government have repeatedly, and falsely, claimed the 2016, 2018, and 2020 elections were marred by large numbers of people voting illegally. However, extensive research reveals that fraud is very rare, voter impersonation is virtually nonexistent, and many instances of alleged fraud are, in fact, mistakes by voters or administrators. The same is true for mail ballots, which are secure and essential to holding a safe election amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The proof of citizenship provision in Trump’s March 25 order was blocked by a judge on April 24 after the White House was sued by the Democratic National Committee, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the League of Women Voters Education Fund. The judge wrote, “Our Constitution entrusts Congress and the States – not the President – with the authority to regulate federal elections.”
But she let stand several other provisions of Trump’s order, in particular allowing Musk’s DOGE access to voting databases to ferret out non-citizens, and allowing the Department of Justice to act against states which refuse to adopt Trump’s requirement that mail-in ballots be received by election day.
The judge did not act on these provisions because, she said, the plaintiffs suing were not the appropriate ones to challenge other parts of Trumps order. It was up to the states to do so.
And the states did just that. Matt Platkin, the New Jersey attorney general, joined with 18 other state attorneys general in a major lawsuit against Trump, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and other U.S. officials on April 3 charging that Trump’s elections order was unconstitutional. “Nowhere does the Constitution provide the President, or the Executive Branch, with any independent power to modify the States procedures for conducting federal elections,” said the lawsuit.
The president has consistently tried to act like a king, take powers that belong to other branches of government, whether it be Congress or the courts, or in this case, the states, and use them in a way to punish states that don’t simply bend the knee and go along with his unlawful orders. In this case, he’s threatening the fundamental right to vote.
Still, the Trump administration has shown that it doesn’t feel constrained by what courts decide, and it has tested constitutional boundaries repeatedly. So, what’s to prevent Habba from signing a warrant that allows the FBI and DHS to, say, raid a local election board to search records for signs that non-citizens are registered, meanwhile sequestering registrations of people who, the investigators say, can’t prove their citizenship. (Do you know where your birth certificate is?) Sure, actions like that will be challenged in court. But intimidation is the point.
Habba, who’s openly promised to work to “turn New Jersey red,” is joining Trump’s vengeance offensive, as The New Jersey Democrat reported in March:
It’s a critical post, in which Habba will now serve as the chief federal prosecutor for the entire state of New Jersey. It will allow her to join President Trump’s campaign of weaponizing the Justice Department against his perceived political enemies: attacking and sanctioning billion-dollar law firms, stripping security clearances and even Secret Service protection from people he doesn’t like, ousting federal prosecutors from low-level lawyers to assistant U.S. Attorneys, putting cronies in all the top jobs at DOJ in Washington, and calling for the impeachment of judges.
Elections in New Jersey are regulated and protected by the New Jersey secretary of state, the New Jersey attorney general, and the Election Law Enforcement Commission. The attorney general’s office says, on its website:
The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General protects the right to vote for all eligible voters. The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, and no eligible voter should be denied their right to cast a ballot. We have compiled a list of resources to help you understand your rights under the law.
All of those rights, along with an extensive FAQ list, can be found on the site.
And the secretary of state’s office maintains a thorough “New Jersey Voter Information Portal.”
The New Jersey Democrat has asked candidates for governor and the state offices for comment on Habba’s task force. So far, the secretary of state’s office said only, “We do not have any comment.” We’ll update this post with any responses. Stay tuned.
UPDATE From Rep. Mikie Sherrill:
“There are few people less credible or qualified to lead an ‘election integrity’ effort than Alina Habba, who has made a career of lying professionally for Donald Trump. Let’s not forget what Trump’s election lies have done: undermined faith in our democracy and ignited a violent insurrection on January 6. Habba has stated her goal of turning New Jersey red — a frightening statement from somebody who is supposed to be impartial and uphold the Constitution above all else. This is dangerous, and I will fight back against any attempt to roll back access to the ballot box or bring Trump’s attacks on our democracy to New Jersey state elections.”
Alina Habba.