NJ Begins Voter Purge After MVC 'Error' Registers 6,600 Non-Citizens

New Jersey has started purging thousands of people from its voter rolls after a high-profile registration scandal, but the state won’t be turning over their personal information to the Trump administration, Gov. Mikie Sherrill says.

Last week, Sherrill announced that nearly 6,600 “non-citizens” were improperly registered to vote in New Jersey. The faulty registrations happened across the state between June 2023 and June 2024, while former Gov. Phil Murphy was in office.

The voters were registered as both Democrats and Republicans. Some were unaffiliated with a political party.

Fewer than 400 actually cast ballots, and there is no evidence that any election was swayed, Sherrill’s office said.

The problem was blamed on a software error with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission’s automatic voter registration system. State officials said that the registrants answered “no” when asked on a keypad if they were a U.S. citizen while applying for driver’s licenses or non-driver identification cards.

“Through no fault of their own, the system registered them anyway,” Sherrill said, adding that the vendor responsible for the error is being replaced.

• Related: Hundreds Of Noncitizens Voted In NJ Due To MVC Error, NJ Governor Says

VOTER PURGE BEGINS

On Tuesday, Sherrill announced that the state Division of Elections has begun the process of removing more than 4,500 voter registrations from the rolls.

Sherrill said the remaining 2,100 registrations will be referred to county election officials for more review – a demand that Republican state lawmakers have been making over the past week.

“We are taking this extra step because our initial review indicates that a number of these individuals may be citizens,” she said. “That has been the case in other states where clerical and administrative voter registration errors have occurred, and we're determined to get this right.”

Sherrill said it’s important to make sure that any lawfully registered voters are not being disenfranchised.

“Just as we have an obligation to remove everyone who is not eligible to vote, we also have a responsibility to protect the voting rights of eligible New Jersey citizens and ensure no one is improperly removed from the rolls,” the governor said. “And we are going to do just that.”

Sherrill has insisted that she is taking the issue seriously, citing her previous experience as a former federal prosecutor.

“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,” she said. “This failure didn’t occur under my watch, but accountability starts now.”

NO INFO FOR FEDS, GOVERNOR SAYS

The Trump administration has been demanding more information from state officials in New Jersey, including identifying details about the people who were improperly registered.

That request has been denied, Sherrill said Tuesday.

“With no legal basis, you requested that I provide extensive personal information about thousands of New Jersey residents,” she wrote in her official reply to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Providing that information would violate multiple federal laws, including the Privacy Act and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act, Sherrill alleged.

“We will continue to ensure that New Jersey’s elections remain free, fair and secure,” the governor said.

TRUMP WEIGHS IN

The White House released a statement about the error last week, alleging that the faulty registrations are the “direct result of Democrat policies that refuse basic citizenship checks.”

“Every illegal ballot dilutes the voice of a lawful American citizen and undermines election integrity,” the White House said.

President Donald Trump weighed in separately on Truth Social, pointing to a different Department of Homeland Security figure: “35,152 is the new number just released by Homeland Security of non-citizens registered to vote in New Jersey,” he claimed, quoting a number that has since been questioned by several sources.

• Related: 35K Non-Citizens Registered To Vote In NJ, Trump Alleges

Sherrill has been among those contesting the federal government’s numbers, saying that Trump has “zero credibility” when it comes to election integrity.

“For more than 10 years, [President Trump] has worked 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,” Sherrill alleged.

“The difference is simple: when we find a problem, we don't hide it, deny it, or invent conspiracies,” she said. “We investigate it, we fix it, and we tell the public.”

It isn’t the first time that the Trump administration has criticized the voter registration process in New Jersey.

Last year, former U.S. attorney Alina Habba announced that a new federal task force will be working with law enforcement officers from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies to share information in an attempt to “efficiently and effectively remove individuals who are not eligible to vote from state voter lists.”

• Related: Ineligible Voter Purge Planned In NJ, Trump-Appointed Official Says

HOW COMMON IS VOTER FRAUD?

Some pundits have claimed there are very few elections that could have been impacted by New Jersey’s registration scandal.

For scale, New Jersey had more than 2.2 million voters turn out for the 2024 presidential election. Out of that total, 400 votes would be about 0.018 percent, CNN reported.

Other pundits say what happened in New Jersey isn’t proof that any fraud took place on the parts of the people who were registered.

“It is vital that we remember that those who were improperly registered were not responsible for that error; the software was – they did not misrepresent their status or intentionally register improperly,” the New Jersey Institute For Social Justice opined.

“The improperly registered individuals were added to the voter rolls because of a software error and bear no responsibility for this mistake,” the League of Women Voters of New Jersey agreed.

The conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation – which has been cited by the White House – lists only 53 cases of confirmed voter fraud in New Jersey dating back to 2003 on their online database.

Nationally, voter fraud is very rare and voter impersonation is “virtually nonexistent,” the progressive-leaning Brennan Center for Justice claims.

“Noncitizens are not permitted to vote in state and federal elections,” the nonprofit says. “It’s a federal crime for noncitizens to register or vote in federal elections, and it’s a crime under every state’s laws. So it should come as no surprise that every legitimate study ever done on the question shows that voting by noncitizens in state and federal elections is vanishingly rare.”

A 2024 report from the Brookings Institution also found that election fraud is “miniscule” in the United States.

“The bottom line—whether it’s vote fraud or government fraud—facts matter, and isolated instances of fraud do not constitute a widespread trend,” the Brookings Institution said.

NJ REPUBLICANS DEMAND CHANGE

Meanwhile, Republican state lawmakers continue to demand sweeping voter registration changes in New Jersey.

Sen. Anthony Bucco called for New Jersey to immediately suspend its automatic voter registration program until the investigation concludes. He also demanded that the state roll out a voter identification requirement.

“At the very least, New Jersey should immediately suspend its automatic voter registration program until the investigation is complete and state officials publicly announce their findings, corrective actions, and next steps,” he said.

Bucco and another prolific GOP state lawmaker, Sen. Kristin Corrado, penned a joint letter to the New Jersey Division of Elections on Tuesday, urging the department to “promptly” pass along the identities of the 6,600 registrants to local election officials across the state.

“Correcting an error of this magnitude should not depend solely on the voluntary compliance of the individuals affected,” the lawmakers insisted.

Another Republican state lawmaker, Sen. Joe Pennacchio, has introduced a bill that would establish additional election safeguards by requiring the state to cross-check voter records with jury records to identify and remove ineligible registrations.

U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who chaired the president’s last re-election drive in New Jersey, said the scandal is an example of why so many New Jerseyans have lost confidence in the election system.

“For years, we have warned that our voter rolls needed to be cleaned up, only to be dismissed and called conspiracy theorists,” Van Drew said. “Now, the state's own findings confirm that thousands of non-citizens were registered to vote and hundreds cast ballots.”

“New Jersey should end automatic voter registration at the Motor Vehicle Commission, clean up its voter rolls, and require proof of citizenship to register to vote,” he added.

NJ DEMOCRATS REACT

Democratic lawmakers in New Jersey have also been reacting to the governor’s announcement, including U.S. Sen. Andy Kim of New Jersey, who told Fox News that the error was “horrible.”

“We absolutely need to have accountability for what happened,” Kim said. “There was a big problem with that computer problem that they had. We need to try to address that going forward.”

The senator also said keeping voter rolls accurate is a task for New Jersey and other states to tackle, not the Department of Homeland Security.

“The main thing is making sure states have what they need,” Kim said. “I don't trust the idea that we're just going to mesh it with some DHS database.”

New Jersey Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin commended Sherrill for “being forthright” about the error and taking immediate steps to correct the mistake.

"Four years ago, on a bipartisan basis, we enacted a package of election integrity reforms because strengthening our voting systems is an ongoing responsibility,” he said. “New Jerseyans deserve a thorough investigation that delivers accountability for those responsible, and the Assembly will await the outcome of the investigation before taking further action.”

Senate President Nicholas Scutari also said Sherrill deserves credit for being transparent about the “failures.”

“Ensuring equitable access to the democratic process for all citizens is a value we hold dear in New Jersey, and our state is stronger for it,” Scutari said. “Addressing these errors is part of that commitment, and we will continue to use our authority to empower every eligible voter while strengthening oversight across the systems that give voice to our communities.”

VOTING IN NEW JERSEY

There are 2.56 million Democrats, 1.68 million Republicans and 2.36 million unaffiliated voters registered in New Jersey as of July 1, according to state election data.

According to the New Jersey Division of Elections, in addition to being a U.S. citizen, people who want to register to vote in a state or federal election must be:

• At least 17-years-old (applicants can't vote until they have reached the age of 18)
• A resident of the county for 30 days before the election
• A person not serving a sentence of incarceration as the result of a conviction of any indictable offense under the laws of this or another state or of the United States

New Jersey does not require voters to present identification while voting, in most cases. However, if a voter does not provide valid identification at the time of registration, they must show identification at the polling place.

Learn more about voting in New Jersey here.

In the following video, Gov. Mikie Sherrill speaks at a news conference about voter registration on July 21, 2026:

Send local news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com. Learn more about advertising on Patch here. Find out how to post announcements or events to your local Patch site.