Ballot Security Task Force

The National Ballot Security Task Force (BSTF) was a controversial group founded in 1981 by the Republican National Committee (RNC) located in New Jersey, as a means of intimidating voters and discouraging voter turnout among likely Democratic voters in the gubernatorial election. The group's activities prompted the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to bring a federal lawsuit, alleging a violation of the Voting Rights Act, illegal harassment, and voter intimidation. The RNC and New Jersey Republican State Committee entered into a consent decree in 1982, barring them from engaging in further such conduct until 2017, when the consent decree is set to expire. The consent decree has since been the subject of further litigation; the RNC has unsuccessfully tried to lift the decree several times.

The task force consisted of a group of armed, off-duty police officers wearing armbands, who were hired to patrol polling sites in African-American and Hispanic neighborhoods of Newark and Trenton.

Initially, 45,000 letters were mailed (using an outdated voter registration list) to primarily Latino and African-American citizens. These letters were later returned as non-deliverable and the 45,000 addresses were converted into a list of voters. These voters were then challenged by the BSTF, a practice known as voter caging.

In addition, the Republican National Committee filed a request for election supervisors to strike these voters from the rolls, but the commissioners of registration refused when they discovered that the RNC had used outdated information.

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