New Jersey voter registration controversy explained: How 6,600 noncitizens got on the rolls, and what happens next

About 6,600 people who told New Jersey's Motor Vehicle Commission they were noncitizens ended up registered to vote in 2023 and 2024. Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced the error Tuesday, blamed it on a software problem at the agency, and said fewer than 400 of those people actually cast a ballot. She has ordered the wrongful registrations removed and opened an investigation into how it happened.

The announcement lands in the middle of a national fight over noncitizen voting, an issue President Donald Trump has raised repeatedly this year. Here is what is known so far, and what comes next.

New Jersey voter controversy: What actually happened?

New Jersey is one of 19 states that let people living in the US illegally hold a driver's license or state ID, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. It is also one of roughly half the states with automatic voter registration, which lets eligible people opt in to registering when they get a license or use certain other state services.


A software error at the Motor Vehicle Commission caused the system to register some people as voters even after they indicated they were not citizens. Sherrill said the error occurred under the previous administration and blamed it on the state's vendor, which she is now replacing.

"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 said in a statement.

NJ Registered Voters: How many people actually voted?

Of the roughly 6,600 wrongly registered, fewer than 400 are believed to have cast a ballot, based on Sherrill's preliminary analysis. That is a small fraction of New Jersey's roughly 6.9 million registered voters and the more than 4 million people who voted in the 2024 presidential election. Sherrill said the registrations were not limited to one party — the affected group included people who signed up as Democrats, Republicans and independents.

Is this part of a bigger pattern?

New Jersey's error is not the first of its kind. Other states with automatic voter registration have reported similar mistakes:

Oregon: State officials found in 2024 that about 1,600 people were registered through the DMV without proof of citizenship. Most were later confirmed to be citizens, and the state said only about 30 ineligible voters had cast ballots.
Colorado: Officials said in 2022 they had mistakenly sent postcards to 30,000 noncitizens inviting them to register. The state said it would not have allowed any of them to register even if they had tried.
California: A 2019 audit of the state's DMV registration program found errors that may have let about 1,500 people register incorrectly, some of whom may not have been citizens.

These cases predate New Jersey's disclosure and involve different states, systems and numbers, but they point to the same underlying issue: automatic registration systems tied to DMV records can misfire when citizenship status isn't verified correctly.

Separately, the Department of Homeland Security has said it identified about 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in federal elections nationwide, concentrated mostly in California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. That figure has not been independently verified, and Pennsylvania's Department of State has disputed its relevance, saying in a statement that noncitizen voting is extremely rare nationally, including in Pennsylvania.

Why is New Jersey voter Controversy politically charged?

Trump and other Republicans have argued for months that noncitizen voting is a widespread problem in US elections. Election officials and researchers generally say confirmed cases are rare, and that noncitizen voting is a felony that can result in deportation when detected.

New Jersey's disclosure gave the White House an opening to push Trump's SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and impose voter ID rules nationwide. The bill has passed the House but has not come up for a vote in the Senate, where it faces opposition from some Republicans as well as Democrats.

"American voters deserve to have confidence that our elections are safe and secure," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin suggested on X that a federal report was what prompted Sherrill to act.

"Appreciate you responding back to our letter, @GovSherrillNJ. This should've been done a LONG time ago," Mullin wrote. "Just ONE illegal vote cancels out the vote of a U.S. citizen."

Sherrill, for her part, framed the episode as evidence that she is protecting the integrity of the state's elections rather than a sign of a larger crisis.

"As the Trump Administration tries to weaponize elections for political gain, I am ensuring we protect our elections," she said.

Who is responsible for this controversy?

The error occurred while Phil Murphy, also a Democrat, was governor. A representative for Murphy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.

Christine Hanlon, chair of the Republican party organization in New Jersey, said the state needs a bipartisan investigation into both the error and why it wasn't disclosed sooner.

"The system and verification process must be improved in order to safeguard our elections," Hanlon said in a statement. "The public also deserves to know why this was covered up and who was responsible for keeping this critical information from the public."

What happens next?

Sherrill has ordered the removal of all erroneous registrations added during the 2023-2024 period and is replacing the vendor that operated the Motor Vehicle Commission's registration system. She has also launched an investigation into how the software error occurred and why it wasn't caught sooner.

Whether that investigation becomes bipartisan, as Hanlon has requested, is not yet clear. The outcome could also feed into the ongoing debate in Washington over the SAVE America Act, which remains stalled in the Senate.

White House Points to Federal Voting Bill

The White House used the announcement to promote Trump's SAVE America Act. The bill would require people to show documents proving citizenship before they register to vote and would set voter ID rules nationwide. The House has passed the bill, but it has not received a vote in the Senate, where some Republicans oppose it.

"American voters deserve to have confidence that our elections are safe and secure," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said on X that a federal report may have pushed Sherrill to act.

"Appreciate you responding back to our letter, @GovSherrillNJ. This should've been done a LONG time ago," Mullin wrote. "Just ONE illegal vote cancels out the vote of a U.S. citizen."

Trump Has Focused on New Jersey

Last week, Trump cited a Department of Homeland Security investigation that identified about 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in federal elections nationwide. The department said most of them were in California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania's Department of State pushed back on the claim. In a statement from Gov. Josh Shapiro's office, the department said noncitizen voting is extremely rare across the country, including in Pennsylvania. It said it would review any information the Department of Homeland Security provides.