‘Accountability starts now,’ NJ governor says after software let noncitizens register to vote
More than 6,600 people who are not citizens were allowed to register to vote in New Jersey because of a software error in the state’s motor vehicle system, New Jersey’s Democratic governor said in a statement Tuesday. Fewer than 400 of those people actually voted, the governor said, citing “preliminary analysis” of the situation.
The governor, Mikie Sherrill, also said she ordered the people removed from the state’s voter rolls and is replacing “the vendor responsible for administering the system.”
“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, who succeeded fellow Democrat Phil Murphy, said in the statement. “This failure didn’t occur under my watch, but accountability starts now. I am taking action to prevent anything like it from occurring in the future and make sure those responsible are held accountable.”
Sherrill did not identify the vendor or how she learned of the matter. An email sent to a spokesperson seeking further information was not immediately returned.
According to the statement, the error occurred when people were applying for driver’s licenses and identification cards online. After they answered “no” to the question of whether they were a citizen, “the system registered them anyway,” Sherrill said. She also noted the people who registered to vote did so “through no fault of their own.”
Sherrill’s announcement did not elaborate on where the voters were located or whether any of them cast votes that would have been of any significance in local elections.
Under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, “Each State motor vehicle driver’s license application (including any renewal application) submitted to a State motor vehicle authority must serve as a simultaneous voter registration application unless the applicant fails to sign the voter registration application,” according to the Department of Justice. The result has been an increase in the number of people who have registered to vote. Some local officials recently identified errors caused by software used for this process.
In 2019, an audit in California found more than 83,000 “duplicate registration records,” the Los Angeles Times reported. In October, a review found the state of Michigan had more voters than residents — a result of inactive voters remaining on voter rolls, according to Bridge Detroit. In April, officials in Oregon said more than 1,700 people had been allowed to register to vote between 2010 and 2023, despite not demonstrating proof of citizenship.
In her statement, Sherrill cautioned against using the announcement to undermine confidence in American elections. President Donald Trump last week delivered a prime-time address where he repeated his claim that recent American elections were manipulated by foreign governments, even though a top adviser to the president admitted that evening the administration has not found evidence of that.
As part of Trump’s recent push to raise doubts about election results, the White House released documents it said provided evidence of election interference and a cover-up by government officials. The documents show China and other foreign actors trying to acquire voter information during Trump’s first term, but no evidence of results being manipulated, according to independent fact-checking by FactCheck.org PBS, NBC, CBS, BBC, and others.
“As the Trump Administration tries to weaponize elections for political gain,” Sherrill said in her statement, “I am ensuring we protect our elections.”
People in New Jersey “should have confidence that every eligible citizen can vote, every lawful vote will be counted, and every reasonable step will be taken to protect the integrity of our elections,” Sherrill said. “That’s my responsibility, and it’s one I will never stop fighting to uphold.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
