voters rights activists are questioning interim US attorney Alina Haba's recent announcement that her office is launching an election integrity task force raising concern the move is a political fear tactic meant to intimidate New Jersey voters the action came on the heels of Haba's comments that she hoped to help turn the state red while in her role a position that's meant to be nonpartisan but other state officials tell senior correspondent Joanna Gagas they welcome the input and interest at the federal level to keep elections secure looking at my state in particular you know the Department of Justice the last Department of Justice just left behind simple basic things like elections that need to be secure that's interim US attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Haba who last week announced she's created an election integrity task force to help enforce an executive order signed by President Trump in March that makes sweeping changes to the voting process in New Jersey and the nation paula Salamy Coll is the Mercer County Clerk who oversees elections in her county most of the election officials in New Jersey are a bit upset about the idea of the federal government coming in and trying to change the way we run elections because we all work very hard to make sure that they're safe and secure and it is in the US Constitution that the states are supposed to determine the time and the place and the manner that voting is to take place and Congress is also has a role it's not under the uh executive branch under the president to set voting uh requirements and laws the executive order would require a person to show a real ID each time they vote to prove their citizenship it would require mail-in ballots be received by election day current New Jersey law allows them to be postmarked by election day counted up to 6 days later republican Senator Mike Ta acknowledges that the Constitution gives the authority to the states but he says he has no problem with Haba's actions how can that be considered a bad thing whatsoever there are major implications if you have voter fraud i I don't see a real problem with her wanting to instill election integrity into New Jersey elections i mean quite frankly I think that's her doing her job do you believe that New Jersey's elections are safe are secure and are valid i can say this i'm the county chairman in Cumberland County for the Republican party i can rest assured to all of my constituents that those elections have integrity 100% however I don't see a problem with us wanting to clean up the voter roles there is absolutely individuals on the voter roles who are no longer eligible to vote because they don't live either in Cumberland County or the state of New Jersey or quite frankly have unfortunately deceased jesse Burns with the League of Women Voters of New Jersey says election officials spend every day updating voter roles that change based on a number of variables it's also important to understand that voter role inaccuracies are not the same as voter fraud right so voter fraud is if somebody is casting multiple ballots or if a candidate is doing something that they shouldn't be doing um in order to win an election voter list inaccuracies might be I moved and it has me at the wrong address the way to solve that isn't through threats or prosecution it's through modernization and pro- voter um policies that can help us keep these rules more up to date haba has said she'll prosecute any election crimes like casting fraudulent ballots voting by non-citizens or voting multiple times burns takes issue with that messaging the implication that voter fraud is happening is part of the same kind of playbook that we've seen that just seeks to undermine confidence in elections while ignoring all the truth about the verification process if the tone were different would you welcome the support from a federal agency trying to you know ensure that there is 100% accuracy in all of our voting the support already exists every year the um attorney general in our state the lieutenant governor Homeland Security federal agencies federal law enforcement work together to ensure that elections in this country and in this state are safe and secure the problem here is the implication that they aren't new Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin has joined with several other states to sue the administration a judge has already blocked the proof of citizenship requirement and the courts will have to decide whether the executive order is an overreach of the president's authority for NJ Spotlight News I'm Joanna Gagas [Music]