New Jersey says DMV glitch put 6,600 noncitizens on voter rolls
Gov. Mikie Sherrill said about 400 wrongly registered noncitizens cast ballots after a Motor Vehicle system error.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
About 6,600 noncitizens were wrongly added to New Jersey’s voter rolls after a state Motor Vehicle system software error, Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Tuesday.
Sherrill, a Democrat, said roughly 400 of those people cast ballots after being registered between June 2023 and June 2024. She said officials have not determined which elections the ballots were cast in, and said there is no evidence at this point that any race was changed by the error.
The governor said the affected voters were listed as Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters, and were spread around New Jersey. Their names are now being removed from the rolls, according to Sherrill.
Sherrill said the noncitizens did not cause the problem. According to the governor, the people answered “no” when asked on a keypad whether they were U.S. citizens while applying for driver’s licenses or identification cards, but the system registered them anyway.
“When we find a problem, we don’t hide it, deny it, or invent conspiracies,” Sherrill said in a statement. “We investigate it, we fix it, and we tell the public.”
Governor blames prior administration
Sherrill, who became governor in January, said the mistake occurred while former Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy was in office. She called it unacceptable that the issue was not disclosed or addressed during the prior administration.
NBC News reported that Murphy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sherrill said her administration has opened an investigation into what happened and will seek accountability. She also said the state is replacing Idemia, the vendor she identified as responsible for the error, to prevent a repeat.
NBC News reported that Idemia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
DHS claim hangs over the disclosure
The governor said she learned about the registration problem on Wednesday, two days before Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin alleged in a letter that 35,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in New Jersey.
According to NBC News, Mullin’s department gave New Jersey two weeks to respond and confirm whether it planned to work with DHS on election issues.
Sherrill said the state asked for evidence supporting Mullin’s 35,000 figure and had not received a response. She also said she would not hand over personally identifying information to the federal government, saying the Trump administration uses such information against people.
Mullin later responded to Sherrill’s public disclosure in a post on X, writing that he appreciated her response to the DHS letter and looked forward to working with her on election security.
The disclosure comes after President Donald Trump used a White House speech last week to press Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require photo identification and proof of citizenship to vote.
Sherrill said her administration will handle the New Jersey error itself. She also said the state should not charge the people who were wrongly registered, citing concerns that their immigration status could be affected by a mistake she attributed to the state.
This story draws on original reporting from NBC News.