New Jersey noncitizen voting occurred after a Motor Vehicle Commission software error mistakenly added about 6,600 residents to the voter rolls between June 2023 and June 2024, resulting in roughly 400 noncitizens casting ballots, Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Tuesday.
According to the governor, every affected person had indicated they were not a U.S. citizen when applying for a driver’s license or state ID, but the system still registered them to vote. Those individuals will now be removed from the rolls, and Sherrill warned they could face federal consequences or obstacles on their path to citizenship, calling the situation “through no fault of their own.”
New Jersey noncitizen voting tied to vendor error
Sherrill said the software vendor Idemia was responsible for the error and is being phased out in the state. Officials with Idemia were not immediately available for comment.
The governor added that her administration learned of the “serious software error” last week and launched an investigation. The Motor Vehicle Commission has not released additional details about how the glitch occurred.
Sherrill noted the state has no evidence that any contests were influenced by the erroneous registrations, including the 2024 presidential race. She said the error was discovered and fixed in 2024, during former Gov. Phil Murphy’s tenure, but was not publicly disclosed at the time.
A spokesperson for Murphy did not respond to requests for comment. New Jersey’s statewide elections are overseen by the Division of Elections under the Department of State.
Governor criticizes prior handling
Sherrill sharply criticized how the issue was addressed, citing “reckless failures.” She said it was unacceptable that the vendor released flawed software, that the MVC took a year to resolve it, and that the previous administration did not bring the problem to light or demand accountability.
Scale of the ballots cast
The finding of about 400 ballots from noncitizens ranks among the larger confirmed instances of such voting nationally, though it remains a minuscule share of overall turnout. If all 400 voted in 2023 local races, it would account for roughly 0.02 percent of voters.
If all voted in the 2024 presidential election, it would be about 0.009 percent of statewide totals. Kamala Harris defeated Donald Trump in New Jersey by more than 252,000 votes in 2024.
Political reaction and policy push
The disclosure is likely to intensify national debate over election integrity as Congress weighs the SAVE America Act, which would restrict mail voting and require documentary proof of citizenship to vote. A White House spokesperson, Abigail Jackson, said voters deserve confidence that elections are secure.
Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters said the figures align with the party’s records request and urged passage of the bill, arguing that similar findings keep surfacing. The Republican National Committee has made election rules a central organizing issue heading into November.
Sherrill contrasted her decision to publicly disclose the error with what she described as Donald Trump’s attempts to “weaponize elections for political gain,” asserting that his concerns are not about the integrity of the process.
For Hawaiʻi readers, officials here periodically audit voter rolls and coordinate with federal databases to confirm eligibility. The New Jersey episode underscores how administrative systems, and their vendors, can affect election operations far from the ballot box, including in races such as the State House District 17 race.
