The New Jersey Division of Elections has begun removing more than 4,500 people who were improperly registered to vote through a Motor Vehicle Commission software error, Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced today.
The remaining roughly 2,100 registrations will be sent to county election officials for further review after the state found that some of the affected individuals may be U.S. citizens who are legally entitled to vote.
“Just as we have an obligation to remove everyone who is not eligible to vote, we also have a responsibility to protect the voting rights of eligible New Jersey citizens and ensure no one is improperly removed from the rolls,” said Sherrill. “And we are going to do just that.”
The update comes one week after Sherrill disclosed that approximately 6,600 people were improperly registered between June 2023 and June 2024 due to a serious software error at the MVC while Latricia Littles-Floyd was at the helm of the agency, before the new governor took office earlier this year.
While completing MVC transactions, the individuals indicated on an electronic keypad that they were not U.S. citizens and did not attest to their eligibility to vote. But the vendor’s software transmitted their information for voter registration processing anyway.
Sherrill said the state is moving to remove more than 4,500 people who were registered solely because of the software error. County officials will examine the remaining registrations to determine whether those voters subsequently became citizens or were otherwise lawfully registered.
“We are taking this extra step because our initial review indicates that a number of these individuals may be citizens,” Sherrill said. “That has been the case in other states where clerical and administrative voter registration errors have occurred, and we’re determined to get this right.”
The MVC has mailed letters to those affected and launched a website with information about the error, the review process and available support.
Sherrill has ordered her chief counsel to conduct an independent investigation into how the error occurred. The MVC is also replacing the vendor responsible for the allegedly flawed software, IDEMIA; the French company has strongly pushed back, saying the state was responsible for the glitch.
The governor presented the response as evidence of transparency while accusing President Donald Trump and other Republicans of exploiting the controversy to advance restrictions on voting.
“We inherited a problem. We didn’t hide it. We didn’t deny it. We’re investigating it. And we’re going to fix it, the right way,” Sherrill said.
She charged that Trump and “MAGA Republicans” had sought to weaponize the error and target individuals who were registered through no fault of their own.
“I won’t let them do either,” she said.
Trump had alleged shortly before Sherrill’s initial disclosure that more than 35,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in New Jersey. The administration has not said that the MVC error substantiates Trump’s broader claim.
“New Jerseyans should have confidence that every eligible citizen can vote, every lawful vote will be counted, and their government will act quickly and transparently when problems arise,” Sherrill said.
RELATED ARTICLES
-
July 21, 2026 -
September 21, 2020 -
