A review of voter registration practices at the Motor Vehicle Commission has uncovered approximately 1,090 additional records requiring correction or further investigation, Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced today, expanding the state’s examination of registration problems at the agency.
The findings include about 750 people whose registrations were processed despite answering “no” to an age-eligibility question and approximately 340 potentially improper registrations originating at MVC prison re-entry events dating to 2016.
Neither category involves noncitizens, Sherrill said. The administration also found no instance of an underage person voting because of the software error.
“This review surfaced two issues. Neither issue involved noncitizens,” Sherrill said.
The governor announced new safeguards, including daily checks of registration records before they are transmitted to election officials, additional language assistance and an eligibility question for people registering at prison re-entry events.
The age-related registrations stem from the same IDEMIA software malfunction that affected citizenship responses between June 2023 and June 2024. In these newly identified cases, customers indicated they did not meet the age requirement, but their information was nevertheless forwarded for registration.
Their birth dates established that they were old enough to vote, according to the administration, which said many were substantially older than the minimum age and apparently selected the wrong response. Still, the state considers registrations generated through those transactions legally invalid.
Approximately 50 people registered only through the faulty process subsequently voted. Their registrations are being deleted, and their records are being sent to county election officials for review.
Another 320 people voted but have separate registrations that may be valid. Counties will examine those records to determine their status.
The remaining 380 people had no other registrations and did not vote. Their records are being moved to deleted status.
The administration said affected individuals have received instructions on how to address their registrations.
The second finding involves registration activity at MVC re-entry events, where some participants attested that they were eligible despite being incarcerated for an indictable offense.
About 340 records need individual examination to determine whether the registrations should be deleted. The announcement did not specify how many people in that group voted.
Separately, the review identified approximately 60 people who are currently incarcerated. Their names are being forwarded to counties for action through the existing voter-roll maintenance process. The administration did not say whether those individuals overlap with the 340 records from re-entry events.
“The review showed that this issue had gone undetected and unaddressed, with some going as far back as a decade. My Administration found them and moved immediately to fix them,” Sherrill said.
Under the new audit process, the MVC will compare customers’ recorded answers with the registration information prepared by its technology vendor. Records containing discrepancies or missing information will be held for staff review before transmission.
Problems identified through those checks will also be reported to agency leadership and tracked until resolved. The MVC is replacing its vendor, Sherrill said.
The agency is expanding its full registration questionnaire to English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi and Simplified Chinese, and adding signs and handheld translation devices capable of assisting customers in more than 80 languages.
Online license and identification renewal pages will provide fuller explanations of eligibility and how registration information is used. At re-entry events, the agency is developing a PIN pad question requiring applicants to affirm that they are not incarcerated for an indictable offense.
Sherrill placed responsibility for the underlying problems on Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration and said her administration had completed the broader review in two and a half months. She also used the announcement to criticize President Donald Trump’s approach to elections.
“This stands in stark contrast to Trump, who has been complaining about this issue for the last ten years and done nothing to fix it, while doing everything in his power to make voting less safe and suppress votes,” she said.
The governor said the investigation remains open.
“Our investigation is ongoing, we will follow the facts wherever they lead, fix the problems we inherited, do it the right way, and hold those responsible accountable.”