NJGOP Joins Forces with the Trump Campaign To Fight Murphy’s Attempts to Undermine Election Integrity

NJGOP Joins Forces with the Trump Campaign To Fight Murphy’s Attempts to Undermine Election Integrity

The NJGOP is joining Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. and the Republican National Committee and filing suit Tuesday night to invalidate Governor Phil Murphy’s Executive Order 177. This unconstitutional order establishes an all vote by mail scheme that violates New Jerseyans’ 14th Amendment right to vote, as well as the Elections and Electors Clauses of the U.S. Constitution. This unlawful power grab by New Jersey Democrats has demonstrably opened up to fraud the State’s election system and will lead to the widespread disenfranchisement of New Jersey voters.

NJGOP Chairman Doug Steinhardt: “Phil Murphy has ravaged our constitutional rights, upended our economy and sacrificed the health of our veterans and senior citizens. The NJGOP will not let him hijack our right to send his party a message this November, too. We will always fight for free, fair and open elections where every person who is legally entitled to vote can do so.

“Today, we have joined forces with Donald J. Trump for President Inc. and the Republican National Committee, and are once again being represented locally by attorney and State Senator Michael Testa, Jr., opposing Governor Phil Murphy’s all vote by mail scheme in its entirety on the grounds that Executive Order 177 is beyond the scope of powers granted to the Governor under the Elections and Electors Clauses of the U.S. Constitution, and because we reject any system that makes universal vote by mail standard and in person voting provisional.

“We said every option was on the table. We picked one. Governor Murphy, we’ll see you in court, again.”

Senator Mike Testa: “Governor Murphy has exceeded his authority again and again and again this year, and we’ve fought him every step of the way. Now, he’s attempting to blow up decades of established election law, and a system that is working, through an executive order.

“Not only does the election system he’s attempting to implement virtually guarantee some number of votes are lost, miscounted, or double counted, it undermines the faith our citizens have in our elections. The Governor is exceeding his constitutional authority, all in pursuit of a system that is riskier than Russian roulette.

“I’m pleased to join Chairman Steinhardt, the NJGOP, the Trump campaign, and the RNC and once more bring the Governor to court, and fight against this scheme.”

The lawsuit states: “In a direct usurpation of the legislature’s authority, Governor Murphy issued Executive Order 177 purporting to rewrite the election code for the November 2020 election. This brazen power grab was not authorized by state law and violates both the Elections Clause and Electors Clause of the U.S. Constitution and 3 U.S.C. §1.”

Matt Morgan, Trump 2020 General Counsel: “Across the country, the Democrat Party is launching an alarming assault on the safety and security of our elections. In the state of New Jersey, where their universal vote-by-mail system has already resulted in fraud and disenfranchisement, Governor Murphy continues to remove safeguards against abuse. With a stroke of his pen, the governor told his people their votes may not count – they may even be stolen – and that’s fine by him. Despite constant attacks on our election system, President Trump and the Trump Campaign will continue to defend our democracy.”

Ronna McDaniel, Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee: “Governor Murphy’s executive order is not only an abuse of power, but a recipe for disaster. In New Jersey’s primary election, dead people voted, a mail truck carrying ballots actually caught fire, countless voters saw their ballots rejected, and the Democrat Attorney General is prosecuting multiple people for fraud, yet Democrats still want to implement a rushed transition to an all mail election. This decision will sow chaos and risk disenfranchising New Jersey voters.”

New Jersey’s universal vote-by-mail system is unconstitutional:

• Executive Order 177 violates New Jerseyans’ 14th Amendment right to vote, as well as the Elections Clause and the Electors Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
• The order treats in-person voting – the most secure voting method – as second class by deeming every in-person ballot cast as merely a provisional ballot.
• This is a clear admission that New Jersey’s election infrastructure cannot handle universal vote-by-mail.

New Jersey’s universal vote-by-mail system is ripe for fraud:

• New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy called the state’s transition to universal vote-by-mail “overwhelmingly a success,” and quipped that New Jersey has “a higher probability of being hit by lightning than we do uncovering voter fraud.”
• If he’s right about the odds, citizens of New Jersey should take shelter—they’re about to get struck by lightning.
• A 2016 investigation found 2,460 active voters on the state’s voter rolls who had been dead for at least five years, including nearly sixty who had cast ballots after their death.
• Under the New Jersey governor’s new order, all active registered voters – including the dead – would be sent ballots.
• Fraudsters in New Jersey have already been caught bribing voters with cash for their mail-in ballots.
• For New Jersey’s May primary, Governor Murphy shut down every polling place and embraced universal vote-by-mail.
• 10% of mail-in ballots were rejected, disenfranchising voters.
• In Paterson New Jersey, there was evidence of massive voter fraud:
• Nearly 900 completed ballots were mailed in bulk.
• Many people listed as having voted say they never received a ballot.
• Fraudsters conspired to steal ballots.

To read our full complaint, click here.