Gov. Sherrill: NJ DMV Glitch Registered 6,600 Noncitizens [VIDEO]

Trenton, NJ — New Jersey officials revealed on July 21, 2026, that a software error at the state's Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) led to the improper registration of approximately 6,600 non-U.S. citizens onto the state's voter rolls between June 2023 and June 2024.

Governor Mikie Sherrill announced the findings, stating that the individuals correctly answered “No” when asked if they were U.S. citizens while applying for driver’s licenses or state identification cards. However, due to a glitch in the system provided by vendor IDEMIA, the “No” responses were not properly recorded, resulting in automatic voter registrations.

Key Details

• Scope: The error affected people across party lines, including Democrats, Republicans, and a majority of unaffiliated voters. Cases were spread across the state.

• Voting Impact: A preliminary analysis determined that fewer than 400 of those improperly registered individuals actually cast ballots in any elections. Sherrill emphasized that the state has removed all affected names from the voter rolls.

• Cause: The issue stemmed from the MVC’s automatic voter registration process. Sherrill, who took office in 2026, attributed the failure to the prior administration and announced an independent investigation, along with plans to switch to a new system vendor.

Context and Reactions

The disclosure comes amid heightened national scrutiny of election integrity. The Trump administration and Department of Homeland Security had previously flagged New Jersey as potentially having as many as 35,152 non-citizen registrations, based on preliminary federal reviews. Sherrill’s office requested supporting evidence from DHS but stated it had not yet received detailed backing for the higher figure.

The U.S. Department of Justice has also requested additional information from New Jersey to assess compliance with federal election laws.

This incident highlights challenges in states using automatic voter registration linked to DMV transactions. While non-citizen voting is illegal under federal and state law, critics argue that self-attestation systems combined with technical errors can create vulnerabilities. New Jersey maintains that the problem was isolated and swiftly addressed once discovered.

Official statewide voter registration statistics are available through the New Jersey Division of Elections.