New Jersey Governor Admits 6,600 Non-Citizens Registered to Vote

New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill announced on July 21, 2026, that a software error at the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission automatically registered approximately 6,600 non-citizens to vote between June 2023 and June 2024. The glitch occurred when the system, built by vendor IDEMIA, registered applicants as eligible even after they selected "no" to citizenship questions on keypads. Sherrill stated that preliminary analysis shows fewer than 400 of these individuals cast ballots across party lines.

The incident occurred under the previous administration, and Sherrill has since ordered the removal of ineligible voters and hired the firm CSG Law to investigate. She announced plans to replace IDEMIA as the software vendor next year and confirmed that the state will not prosecute the non-citizens who voted, characterizing the event as a government mistake.

The Trump administration and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have used the failure to advocate for the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote. While Sherrill maintains that no elections were swayed, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin reported that as many as 35,152 potential non-citizens may be on New Jersey's rolls. Republican officials and the New Jersey GOP Chair have argued that the number of illegal votes cast exceeds the margins of victory in several local elections.