New Jersey Says Software Error Led to 6,600 Noncitizens Being Registered to Vote

New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill disclosed on July 21-22, 2026, that a software error at the state's Motor Vehicle Commission led to approximately 6,600 noncitizens being registered to vote over roughly a one-year period. Of those registered, fewer than 400 are reported to have actually cast ballots in New Jersey elections. Sherrill said she ordered the removal of ineligible voters from the rolls after learning of the problem the prior week and attributed the error to a technical software glitch rather than intentional wrongdoing. The disclosure came days after President Trump, in a primetime speech, cited Department of Homeland Security data claiming 278,000 noncitizens were on voter rolls across New Jersey and three other states. Republicans seized on Sherrill's announcement to call for further investigation into noncitizen voting and to support the SAVE America Act, a voter-verification measure backed by the White House. Sherrill pushed back on Trump's broader claims, stating he has "zero credibility" on election integrity issues. The underlying DHS data used to support claims of widespread noncitizen registration remains disputed, with some experts cited by The Guardian describing it as "designed to create a false argument" rather than reliable evidence of systemic fraud. It remains unresolved how many of the roughly 6,600 erroneously registered individuals were noncitizens improperly registered versus other data errors, and no independent investigation findings have yet been reported to confirm the scale or cause of the software malfunction beyond the state's own account. The political dispute over whether this incident constitutes evidence of broader election fraud remains unsettled.