A software error in New Jersey’s motor vehicle system improperly registered approximately 6,600 non-citizens to vote between June 2023 and June 2024, Governor Mikie Sherrill announced on Tuesday. A preliminary state analysis found that fewer than 400 of those individuals cast ballots, scattered across party affiliations and geography. Sherrill, a Democrat who took office in January, said the glitch occurred when applicants correctly indicated they were not U.S. citizens on a keypad, but the system registered them anyway. She ordered the immediate removal of the erroneously added names from the voter rolls, launched an investigation, and began replacing the vendor responsible for the system.

Viewed from Washington, the White House and Republican leaders seized on the admission as validation of President Donald Trump’s long-standing warnings about non-citizen voting. A White House spokeswoman said the incident “underscores the absolute necessity of the SAVE America Act,” which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register. The Department of Homeland Security had, days earlier, asserted that a preliminary review of commercial databases identified 35,152 potential non-citizen registrants in New Jersey alone, a figure the state has not confirmed. The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division announced it is investigating the matter and has requested detailed records from the state within five business days.

In Trenton, Sherrill stressed that the error predated her administration and accused her predecessor, Democrat Phil Murphy, of a lack of transparency. She also directly challenged Trump’s credibility on election integrity, stating he has “zero credibility” and has worked to undermine faith in elections. Republican state lawmakers countered that the episode demonstrates the need for voter identification requirements, which they argue would have caught the improper registrations at the ballot box. The state’s Republican Party and the Republican National Committee had previously uncovered instances of non-citizens appearing on the rolls, some of whom voted before seeking removal during naturalisation proceedings.

Election law experts note that non-citizen voting remains extraordinarily rare in the United States and that administrative errors, rather than fraudulent intent, typically account for such cases. The 6,600 registrations represent less than 0.1 percent of New Jersey’s 6.6 million active voters, and the fewer than 400 ballots cast would amount to roughly one in 10,000 votes in the 2024 presidential election. The SAVE America Act remains stalled in the Senate, where Democrats and voting rights groups argue it would disenfranchise eligible voters who lack ready access to citizenship documents. With midterm elections approaching, the New Jersey case is likely to fuel further legislative pressure, while the state’s internal review and the federal investigation proceed in parallel.