Hundreds of noncitizens voted in New Jersey elections due to 'software error,' governor admits

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill.

The thing that never happens, according to Democrats, actually did happen, according to New Jersey's governor, a Democrat, who announced on Tuesday that hundreds of non-citizens have voted in elections in her state in recent years, and 6,600 in total were registered to vote.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who is in her first term after defeating Republican Jack Ciatterelli last year, revealed that the state registered 6,600 non-citizens to vote between June 2023 and June 2024. The governor blamed the mistake on a "software error" when the non-citizens were applying for driver licenses in the Garden State. She said the breach occurred during the administration of her predecessor, Phil Murphy, also a Democrat. 

"These individuals answered 'no' when asked on a keypad whether they were a U.S. citizen when applying for drivers' licenses and identification cards," Sherrill said in a post on X and in a press conference. "But through no fault of their own, the system registered them anyway." Sherrill said she learned of the erroneously registered voters last week and immediately launched an investigation.

Sherrill went on to say that her administration's "preliminary analysis shows fewer than 400 individuals who were newly registered for the first time because of the error voted. They were registered as Democrats, Republicans and Unaffiliated voters and were scattered across the state." She added that her administration has "begun the process of replacing the vendor responsible for administering the system," a security firm called IDEMIA. 

However, IDEMIA pushed back on Sherrill's accusations, saying in a statement, that it has worked with New Jersey for 40 years, and suggested that state officials dropped the ball, leading to the erroneous registrations. "The voter registration information is transmitted to the New Jersey Department of State, Division of Elections, which is ultimately responsible for verifying eligibility to vote. Information submitted by IDEMIA must still be validated and adjudicated by the Division of Elections," the company said, according to WABC.

The startling revelation came less than a week after President Donald Trump delivered a prime-time address to the nation on election integrity, a speech that was boycotted by major broadcast networks like ABC and NBC, as well as cable networks like CNN.

In the speech, Trump brought up the problem of voter fraud, which Democrats insist doesn't happen, saying the Department of Homeland Security has uncovered evidence showing 278,000 non-citizens have managed to register to vote. Trump said that the true number of non-citizens voting in American elections is likely higher since some states don't share voter roll data with the federal government.

Near the end of his speech last week, Trump implored the Senate to pass the SAVE Act, already approved by the House, which would strengthen election security by requiring voter ID, among other measures. In response to Sherrill's revelation Tuesday, the White House issued a statement, saying, "This is the direct result of Democrat policies that refuse basic citizenship checks — and exactly why Congress must pass the SAVE America Act immediately. The bill requires states to use the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE system to confirm citizenship before registering anyone to vote in federal elections, a safeguard New Jersey has refused to implement."

Other prominent voices who have been sounding the alarm on U.S. election integrity weighed in on Tuesday's news, like Elon Musk, who said on X that the problem is bigger than most may fathom. "Nationwide, it may be as much as 1000X higher," Musk said. "This is why California and New York made showing ID to vote a literal crime!"

For a brief highlight from Sherrill's press conference, watch the video below: