6,600 non-citizens mistakenly added to NJ voter rolls, and nearly 400 cast ballots, governor says
6 600 Non Citizens Mistakenly Added to NJ Voter Rolls
Goldlaner.com – About 6,600 non-citizens were accidentally added to New Jersey’s voter rolls and approximately 400 cast improper ballots in recent elections, the state’s governor announced on Tuesday. This revelation regarding the 6 600 non citizens mistakenly registered comes from a “serious” software glitch at the state Motor Vehicle Commission that began in 2023, well before Governor Mikie Sherrill took office. The Democrat governor explained that these individuals indicated their non-citizen status while applying for driver’s licenses but were still registered as voters “through no fault of their own.”
Governor’s Response and Political Context
Sherrill made this surprise disclosure just five days after President Donald Trump’s address to the nation, where he claimed there are far more non-citizens on voter rolls than previously known. In her response, the governor emphasized transparency and accountability. “As the Trump Administration tries to weaponize elections for political gain, I am ensuring we protect our elections,” Sherrill wrote on X. “The difference is simple: when we find a problem, we don’t hide it, deny it, or invent conspiracies. We investigate it, we fix it, and we tell the public.”
Sherrill’s announcement validates some of Trump’s assertions from his primetime speech and gives him a potent new datapoint in his push for further scrutiny of state voter rolls. This development will also surely be touted by his allies who have pushed for more aggressive citizenship checks and other measures to prevent undocumented immigrants from voting in US elections.
White House Reaction and Legislative Implications
“As President Trump has said, there is nothing more important than the integrity of our elections. And this latest incident underscores the absolute necessity of the SAVE America Act,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson in a statement. The legislation, currently stalled in Congress, would require proof of citizenship for voter registrations among other new restrictions. However, Sherrill’s explanation also underscored what election officials have said for years: when non-citizens get onto the voter rolls, it’s usually accidental or unintentional. And illegal voting by non-citizens doesn’t happen on a massive scale, as Trump claims.
The 400 improper voters cast ballots in elections where millions of eligible New Jersey voters participated. These 400 improper voters were registered as Democrats, Republicans, and independents, Sherrill said, further rebutting Trump’s past claims about systemic pro-Democrat voter fraud by undocumented immigrants. They were “scattered across the state,” she noted, indicating no geographic concentration of the error.
“The difference is simple: when we find a problem, we don’t hide it, deny it, or invent conspiracies. We investigate it, we fix it, and we tell the public.” — Governor Mikie Sherrill
Sherrill said she learned about the improper registrations “last week” and has since been working to address the situation. The revelation has sparked renewed debate about voter roll accuracy and the need for stronger verification measures across the country. CNN’s Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.
