About 6,600 people in New Jersey who said they were not U.S. citizens were incorrectly registered to vote because of a software error during the previous gubernatorial administration, Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Tuesday.
Sherrill said the error affected people who answered “no” when asked on a keypad whether they were U.S. citizens while applying for driver’s licenses or identification cards between June 2023 and June 2024. She said the registrations occurred nearly three years before she took office this year.
Sherrill said those voters were not tied to one party and were registered as Democrats, Republicans, or unaffiliated voters. At a Tuesday press conference, she said the state had “no evidence at this time that any elections were swayed.”
Sherrill said she ordered an independent investigation, the removal from voter rolls of anyone who should not have been registered, and steps to replace the vendor running the faulty system. She also said the state would protect the identities of noncitizens who were inadvertently registered so their immigration status is not jeopardized.
The disclosure came less than a week after Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent letters to New Jersey and three other states alleging they might have tens of thousands of noncitizens registered to vote. Sherrill said New Jersey asked for evidence supporting the federal claim that as many as 35,152 noncitizens could be registered in the state, but had not received a response.
IDEMIA, the company that runs the motor vehicle system cited by the governor, said its role is to transmit information through the state system and that the New Jersey Division of Elections is responsible for verifying voter eligibility.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday it was investigating the matter. In a letter posted on social media, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon asked New Jersey to provide within five business days personal information on the registered noncitizens the state identified and details on the roughly 400 who voted.
The White House said Sherrill’s announcement supported President Donald Trump’s push for the SAVE America Act, a proposal that would significantly change election administration.