Error Led to 400 Noncitizens Voting in New Jersey, Governor Says

Roughly 400 noncitizens voted in New Jersey after about 6,600 residents were improperly registered to vote between June 2023 and June 2024 because of a software error at the Motor Vehicle Commission, Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced on Tuesday.

All of the people affected had disclosed that they were not citizens when registering for either a driver’s license or ID, but were nonetheless placed on the voter rolls in error.

Those people will be removed from the voter rolls. The governor said that they may now face federal prosecution or unexpected hurdles — “through no fault of their own” — as they work toward becoming citizens.

“We are working very hard to protect them,” Ms. Sherrill, a Democrat who took office in January, said at a news conference.

The New York Times could not independently verify the figures disclosed on Tuesday.

The software vendor Ms. Sherrill said was responsible for the error, Idemia, was being phased out of use in New Jersey, the governor said.

The state had “no evidence, at this time, that any elections were swayed,” she noted, including the 2024 presidential contest.

Officials with Idemia could not be immediately reached for comment.

Officials within the Sherrill administration became aware of the “serious software error” last week, the governor said, and began an immediate investigation into what had happened. The error was discovered and corrected in 2024, while Philip D. Murphy was governor, but never publicly disclosed, Ms. Sherrill said.

A spokesman for Mr. Murphy, a Democrat who served for two terms, did not reply to emails, calls or a text message.

Ms. Sherrill was unstinting in her criticism of the way the Murphy administration handled the problem, citing “reckless failures.”

“It’s unacceptable that the vendor released software with such a glaring error. It’s unacceptable that the M.V.C. 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 years ago,” Ms. Sherrill said.

The finding that roughly 400 noncitizens had cast ballots in New Jersey is one of the larger confirmed instances of noncitizens voting in American elections. But it remains an exceptionally small percentage of the overall vote total.

If those 400 noncitizens had all voted in the state’s local elections in 2023, that would reflect just 0.02 percent of the electorate. If they voted in the 2024 presidential election, those 400 noncitizens would make up about 0.009 percent of the state’s overall vote totals.

Kamala Harris, the former vice president who ran against President Trump in 2024, won New Jersey by more than 252,000 votes.

The findings may nonetheless add fuel to claims by Mr. Trump and his allies that noncitizens are illegally on voter rolls nationwide and are casting ballots in elections in wide numbers, especially as the president makes a final pitch to Congress to pass the SAVE America Act. The act would limit mail voting and add a documentary proof of citizenship requirement to voting.

“Democrats and their media allies have repeatedly said it is impossible for noncitizens to register to vote, let alone cast a ballot,” a White House spokeswoman, Abigail Jackson, said Tuesday in an email.

“American voters deserve to have confidence that our elections are safe and secure,” she added.

Joe Gruters, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, said that the disclosure confirmed information the party had also learned through a public records request. Mr. Gruters, a state senator in Florida, said that it was further evidence of a need for Congress to pass the SAVE America Act.

“Democrats keep claiming this never happens,” Mr. Gruters said in a statement, “yet every new discovery tells the same old story. Enough excuses.”

Ms. Sherrill contrasted her decision to publicly disclose the error with what she called Mr. Trump’s efforts to “weaponize elections for political gain.”

“For the past 10 years, he’s cried wolf and peddled bizarre conspiracy theories about fraud with no evidence,” Ms. Sherrill said.

“Trump could care less about the actual integrity of the process,” she added. “His only concern is himself.”

Nicholas Corasaniti contributed reporting.