NJ Voting Glitch Registers 4,000 Noncitizens: Governor Alerts

A software glitch at the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles has led to the erroneous registration of over 6,000 noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls. Among these individuals, fewer than 400 have participated in various elections, as revealed by New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill on Tuesday.

This startling revelation emerges just a few months ahead of the critical midterm elections. It is likely to intensify ongoing debates, especially as former President Donald Trump continues to promote his discredited narrative about potential threats to the integrity of U.S. elections.

During a press conference, Governor Sherrill, who stepped into office this January, explained that approximately 6,600 noncitizens were inadvertently registered between June 2023 and June 2024. The mistake was attributed to a technical malfunction involving an external vendor, which the state is in the process of discontinuing.

Although these noncitizens identified themselves accurately, they were mistakenly added to the voter rolls due to the glitch.

On Tuesday, Governor Sherrill, a member of the Democratic Party, mentioned that state officials discovered the error only last week. An immediate investigation was launched to thoroughly understand and rectify the situation.

She stressed there is no proof that the ‘less than 400’ noncitizens who cast ballots impacted the results of any election. 

The noncitizens voters were Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters who were ‘scattered across the state,’ she said, adding that New Jersey is currently in the process of removing all 6,600 noncitizens from its voter registration lists.

‘We have no evidence at this time that any elections were swayed,’ Sherrill said, though she stressed that the software glitch was ‘unacceptable.’ 

‘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,’ she said in a statement.

‘It’s unacceptable that the vendor released software with such a glaring error, it’s unacceptable that the MVC took a year to get this issue fixed and it’s unacceptable that no one in the previous administration brought this to light, demanded accountability or took action when it happened years ago.’ 

The number of noncitizen voters who participated in New Jersey’s elections is significant. 

There are very few large-scale instances of voter fraud or noncitizen voting in the US. 

Still, Trump and his allies will almost certainly seize on the news to cast doubt on the integrity of US election systems, and revive debunked claims about noncitizen voting.

As if anticipating this, Sherrill used her statement to highlight the contrast between Trump’s claims and her office’s approach the error.

‘As the Trump Administration tries to weaponize elections for political gain, I am ensuring we protect our elections,’ she said. ‘The difference is simple: when we find a problem, we don’t hide it, deny it, or invent conspiracies. We investigate it, we fix it, and we tell the public. That’s what accountability and good governance look like, and that’s exactly what my administration is doing.’

The Trump administration seized on news of the glitch to urge support for the SAVE America bill, or the Trump-backed legislation that would require voters to show proof of US citizenship at the time of registration.

‘American voters deserve to have confidence that our elections are safe and secure – President Trump will never stop fighting to make that happen and all patriotic Americans should join in his effort,’ White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told the Daily Mail in a statement. 

Democrats and some Republicans in Congress have raised concerns about the SAVE America legislation, which they said could create undue hurdles for certain voters and curtail the participation of many Americans.