More than 6,000 people who identified themselves as noncitizens were mistakenly registered to vote in New Jersey over a one-year period because of a software error at the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission, Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Tuesday.
The state government says fewer than 400 of those individuals ultimately cast ballots before the error was discovered.
The administration has not publicly released a breakdown of which elections those ballots were cast in or whether any races were affected.
Officials have indicated the investigation remains ongoing.
Software Glitch Triggered Incorrect Registrations
Sherrill said the mistake occurred between June 2023 and June 2024, before she took office as governor, after a “serious software error” affected New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle System.
The governor said approximately 6,600 applicants accurately indicated on driver’s license and state identification forms that they were not American citizens.
“Through no fault of their own, the system registered them anyway,” Sherrill said.
The governor said she was informed of the issue last week and immediately ordered an investigation into how the registrations occurred.
Investigation Underway
Sherrill said her administration has begun removing any noncitizens who were improperly added to the state’s voter rolls and is working to prevent similar errors in the future.
“I am appalled by the reckless failures that allowed this to happen and the lack of transparency shown by those in charge at the time,” Sherrill wrote in a statement posted on X.
“This failure didn’t occur under my watch, but accountability starts now,” she continued. “I am taking action to prevent anything like it from occurring in the future and make sure those responsible are held accountable.”
State officials have not yet released details about the software malfunction or identified who was responsible for the error.
Election Integrity Debate Continues
The announcement comes as election integrity has once again become a major political issue ahead of upcoming midterms.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned about vulnerabilities in the nation’s election system and, during a speech last week, again alleged widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Democrats have accused the Trump administration of using election integrity concerns to undermine confidence in the electoral process.
Sherrill echoed that criticism in her statement.
“As the Trump Administration tries to weaponize elections for political gain, I am ensuring we protect our elections,” she wrote.
The governor also directly criticized the president’s record on election issues.
“Let me be clear: Donald Trump has zero credibility on the issue of election integrity,” Sherrill said. “For more than 10 years, he has worked to undermine Americans’ faith in our elections by spreading lies about legitimate election results, attempting to overturn a free and fair election, encouraging an attack on our Capitol when he couldn’t accept the will of the voters, and defunding election security at the federal level.”
Some observers found her statements to be more partisan than practical, because while Trump’s claims about 2020 remain unproven, the widespread error in her state validates his administration’s efforts to create stricter election safeguards.
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6,600 non-citizens are KNOWN ( how many are not known of ) to have been given the so-called right to vote, but Trump is wrong about non-citizens being able to vote.
That’s like saying that night isn’t dark!
She, in her own words, proved Trump correct!
And that’s just the KNOWN non-citizens in just ONE state!
How many more are there in all of the other states?