New Jersey officials acknowledged that roughly 400 non-citizens illegally cast ballots in state elections after a software malfunction mistakenly placed more than 6,000 immigrants on the state’s voter rolls, a revelation that has intensified the national debate over election integrity and prompted renewed calls for stricter voting safeguards.

Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill disclosed the error during a news conference Tuesday but also used the opportunity to criticize President Trump when asked whether the incident could bolster his claims about vulnerabilities in the nation’s election system.

“I think that Donald Trump has done more to undermine free elections in this country than certainly anyone in my lifetime, including [Russian President] Vladimir Putin,” Sherrill said.

She further argued that Trump “has zero credibility on the issue of election integrity.”

The governor’s remarks came just days after President Trump stated in a nationally televised address that nearly 250,000 non-citizens had been registered to vote across California, New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. Trump specifically claimed that as many as 35,152 ineligible voters had been added to New Jersey’s voter rolls.

Sherrill confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security had sent her administration a letter citing the same figure but said state officials have requested documentation supporting the claim.

“We have asked them for any evidence of this, where they got that number, who this is. We’ve received nothing back yet,” she said.

Following the announcement, the White House argued that the New Jersey incident demonstrated why Congress should approve the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require proof of citizenship and voter identification before ballots can be cast.

“Democrats and their media allies have repeatedly said it is impossible for noncitizens to register to vote, let alone cast a ballot. Time and again, they have been proven wrong,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the New York Post.

According to state officials, the problem originated with a software defect at the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission that automatically registered approximately 6,600 non-citizens to vote between June 2023 and June 2024.

Officials said the malfunction occurred even though applicants seeking driver’s licenses or state identification cards selected “no” when asked whether they were US citizens. Despite those responses, the computerized system incorrectly designated them as eligible to register to vote.

Sherrill said the approximately 400 non-citizens who ultimately voted were registered as Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters, with the registrations spread throughout the state.

Although she declined to specify where those ballots were cast, the governor said there is currently no indication that the improperly cast votes changed the outcome of any election.

“We have no evidence at this time that any elections were swayed,” she said.

According to Ballotpedia, New Jersey has held 13 elections since 2017 that were decided by 10 votes or fewer.

New Jersey is among 23 states, along with the District of Columbia, that use automatic voter registration through their motor vehicle agencies, requiring individuals to opt out rather than opt in.

The New Jersey Globe reported that the software involved was supplied by IDEMIA, a French technology company whose identity verification systems are also used for TSA PreCheck and other government programs.

Sherrill also criticized the administration of her predecessor, Phil Murphy, without mentioning him by name, accusing officials of failing to address the problem when it first emerged.

“It’s unacceptable that no one in the previous administration brought this to light, demanded accountability, or took action when it happened years ago,” she said. “For too long, the trend playbook has been to avoid tackling and solving tough problems.”

“This failure didn’t occur under my watch, but accountability starts now because the people of New Jersey shouldn’t have to wait a year for a problem to get solved, or two years to learn it even happened.”

To address the issue, the governor announced that her administration has retained the law firm CSG Law to conduct an independent investigation and intends to replace the state’s voter registration software vendor as early as next year.

State officials are also notifying individuals affected by the registration error and working to remove non-citizens from the voter rolls.

“My team is taking a hard look at the process failures that occurred under the previous administration, and the guardrails we can put down for the future,” Sherrill said.

“I’ve taken several oaths to support and defend our Constitution as a Navy pilot, a federal prosecutor, and an elected official,” she went on. “Election integrity is core to that oath. It’s my duty as governor to make sure our elections are free, fair, and secure.”

The disclosure comes as Republicans in Congress continue pushing legislation aimed at strengthening election security.

The House is expected to vote this week on legislation that would ban members of Congress from trading stocks while also requiring voter identification. Lawmakers in both chambers are also preparing to consider a framework for a third reconciliation package that includes a scaled-back version of President Trump’s SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship for voter registration.

On Tuesday, House Republicans cleared an important procedural hurdle advancing three separate proposals containing elements of the SAVE America Act, including a voter ID provision attached to the congressional stock-trading bill, a modified version of the SAVE legislation, and a proposal to combine the measure with the annual defense authorization bill.

{Matzav.com}