New Jersey Voting Controversy Involving Noncitizens
Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey is at the center of a controversy involving 6,600 noncitizens who allegedly appeared on the state’s voter rolls. She has stated that the state had the necessary data to prevent this issue but moved forward nonetheless.
IDEMIA, the French technology firm implicated in this situation, countered Sherrill’s claims. In a statement to the New York Post, Press Secretary Lisa Shoemaker confirmed that these individuals had indicated “yes” to registering and “no” to citizenship. However, she challenged the governor’s assertion that a technical error, or “glitch,” was responsible for their registration, arguing that it should have disqualified them.
According to Shoemaker, the records provided were accurate and met the state’s design specifications. She emphasized that “a non-citizen was never marked as a citizen in the database,” suggesting that the oversight lies with the state’s management of voter registrations, rather than IDEMIA.
Sherrill explained to reporters that a significant software error in the vehicle registration system led to this issue, which resulted in around 400 noncitizens casting their votes. This error reportedly spanned from June 2023 to June 2024, under the previous administration of Phil Murphy. Fortunately, an investigation found no evidence that this error affected the election outcomes.
When contacted by the Postal Service, New Jersey officials disputed IDEMIA’s account. One official noted that if individuals responded “no” to the citizenship question, their records should not have been forwarded to the Elections Department.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has given the state five business days to provide the names, birth dates, nationalities, and addresses of the 6,600 registrants, alongside voting records for the 400 involved. This request is linked to an ongoing federal case concerning the state’s voter database.
Sherrill’s team criticized the investigation as politically motivated, with spokesman Sean Higgins suggesting that the Trump administration has a history of using the Justice Department for political ends.
On the other side, Republican Rep. Josh Gottheimer has called for a government audit of all federal contracts with IDEMIA, expressing concern over the broader implications of this failure. He noted that the issue goes beyond state lines, while White House press secretary Abigail Jackson cited it as a reason for supporting the SAVE Act. Additionally, state Republicans have called for an end to automatic voter registration at the Department of Motor Vehicles.
