Request came after Gov. Mikie Sherrill disclosed MVC software error that mistakenly registered noncitizens to vote

The Trump administration has asked New Jersey officials to turn over the names, addresses, and nationalities of the 6,600 noncitizens who were mistakenly registered to vote because of software at the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission.

The Department of Justice made the request in a July 21 letter sent the same day Gov. Mikie Sherrill publicly revealed that an MVC software error had erroneously enrolled some noncitizens who applied for driver’s licenses and identification cards between June 2023 and June 2024.

Sherrill said the residents didn’t intentionally register to vote. They answered “no” when an electronic keypad asked whether they were U.S. citizens, but the system enrolled them anyway, and about 400 later cast ballots.

The state fixed the error in June 2024, Sherrill said.

That piqued the feds’ interest.

In the letter, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon asked state officials to provide, within five days, detailed information about the 6,600 people, including their full names, nationalities, registration dates, birth dates, and registration locations.

For the 400 who voted, Dhillon asked when and where they voted. If they voted by mail, he requested the certification and signature required under state law.

Beyond that, Dhillon said the Department of Justice informed the U.S. District Court about Sherrill’s disclosure because it “provides an additional basis” for the department’s Civil Rights Division to secure a copy of the state’s voter rolls, which New Jersey election officials have so far failed to produce.

“Ensuring that U.S. citizens’ votes are not illegally diluted by noncitizens’ votes is of paramount importance,” Dhillon wrote. “We therefore write to formally request additional information to assess New Jersey’s compliance with various federal statutes … Please treat this correspondence as a request to preserve any and all records relating to today’s disclosure.”

Sherrill, a first-term Democrat, said at a Tuesday press conference that she learned of the software error last week and ordered both an investigation and the removal of anyone who remains on the voter rolls despite lacking U.S. citizenship.

She also criticized former Gov. Phil Murphy’s administration for not acting more quickly to rectify the issue after the problem was discovered.

“Let me be clear: This entire situation is unacceptable,” Sherrill said. “It’s unacceptable that the vendor released software with such a glaring error. It’s unacceptable that the [Motor Vehicle Commission] took a year to get this issue fixed. And it’s unacceptable that no one in the previous administration brought this to light, demanded accountability, or took action when it happened.”

The governor added that the state doesn’t plan to charge the 400 voters because it was the commission’s mistake that caused the problem.

“It would be really the utmost in hypocrisy for the state to charge them when it’s our fault,” Sherrill said. “However, I wouldn’t put it past the federal government, so we’re working very hard on ways in which we can protect people.”

Still, state and national Republicans quickly seized on the announcement to push controversial voter ID laws, such as the Trump-backed SAVE America Act, which would require voters to provide proof of citizenship when they register and present a photo ID at the polls.

“Voter ID is not a conspiracy theory,” the New Jersey Assembly GOP wrote in a social media post. “It is exactly the kind of safeguard that catches exactly this kind of failure. Democrats have blocked it every time.”

Trump and other Republican leaders have repeatedly echoed unproven claims that several elections have been “stolen” over the past six years, including Trump’s 2020 presidential loss to Joe Biden.

But they have not presented evidence of widespread voter fraud, and dozens of GOP lawsuits following the 2020 election were dismissed, rejected, or withdrawn around the country.

“Donald Trump has zero credibility on the issue of election integrity,” Sherrill said during the press conference. “For the past 10 years, he’s cried wolf and peddled bizarre conspiracy theories about fraud with no evidence.”

“Trump couldn’t care less about the actual integrity of the process,” she continued. “His only concern is himself.”