New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill revealed on July 21, 2026, that the Garden State has removed close to 6,600 noncitizens from voter rolls who would have been eligible to participate in the 2024 presidential election. Sherrill, a Democrat, went on to say that there was a “serious software error” in the state’s Motor Vehicle System that ultimately allowed thousands of individuals without legal status to be registered to vote between June 2023 and June 2024.
“In the case of this error, some individuals indicated that they weren’t citizens and weren’t eligible to vote, but the software registered them anyway. The error in the software was corrected a year later in June of 2024,” Sherrill revealed during a press conference. According to preliminary findings, less than 400 people who were improperly registered actually cast a ballot in the election.
The governor explained that these individuals came from cities and towns located across New Jersey and most of them did not have a party affiliation, though some were registered to one or the other major parties in the American system. The New Jersey Democrat said that as soon as she learned about the shocking figures, she ordered an immediate investigation and the removal of any person who was not supposed to be on voter rolls.
“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. This failure didn’t occur under my watch, but accountability starts now. I am taking action to prevent anything like it from occurring in the future and make sure those responsible are held accountable,” Sherrill went on to say in a statement on social media, according to Fox News.
Those who received IDs who said they wished to register to vote, but said they were noncitizens, were still added to the rolls, despite it being illegal under federal law, The New York Post reported. “The 6,600 records submitted to the [Motor Vehicle Commission] and Division of Elections contained correct information according to the design specifications as set out by the state,” Lisa Shoemaker, a spokesperson for IDEMIA, told the outlet.
“All 6,600 individuals indicated ‘Yes’ to wanting to register to vote and ‘NO’ to being a US Citizen,” she continued, adding, “This information was recorded correctly and always available. At no point was a noncitizen ever marked as a citizen in the database.” Gov. Sherrill later slammed President Donald Trump, accusing him of shaking Americans’ faith in the election system.
She accused Trump of working to “undermine Americans’ faith in our elections by spreading lies about legitimate election results, attempting to overturn a free and fair election, encouraging an attack on our Capitol when he couldn’t accept the will of the voters, and defunding election security at the federal level.”
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Last week, President Donald Trump announced that the Department of Homeland Security discovered 250,000 noncitizens had been registered to vote across several states including, New Jersey, California, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. On July 21, the president took to Truth Social where he provided further information concerning just how many noncitizens were registered to vote in the Garden State.
“35,152 is the new number just released by Homeland Security of non-citizens registered to vote in New Jersey. These are just the ones that got caught. The real numbers will prove to be many times this amount. They are all Dumocrats! Republicans, get smart and straighten out our Crooked Elections! Pass The Save America Act!!!” Trump wrote.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin put out four letters that stated his department compared publicly available voter registration records with federal immigration data and found thousands of possible matches. He then requested that election officials partner with DHS to help verify the identities of these possible matches before taking any action.
According to the data contained in the letters, Homeland Security estimates that a whopping 190,823 noncitizens registered to vote in California, 35,152 in New Jersey, 15,903 in Nevada, and 14,576 in Pennsylvania. Sean Higgins, a spokesperson for Sherrill, also took a shot at the president, telling the Post, “The Trump administration has a long history of weaponizing the Justice Department for political purposes and attempting to overturn election results.”
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