New Jersey election officials have begun removing more than 4,500 voter registrations that state officials say were created because of a software error at the Motor Vehicle Commission, Governor Mikie Sherrill announced Monday, while the remaining cases will undergo further review to avoid improperly removing eligible voters.

The update comes one week after Sherrill disclosed that a software glitch at the MVC had improperly registered approximately 6,600 individuals to vote between June 2023 and June 2024 during the previous administration.

In a statement, Sherrill said the administration has taken several steps over the past week to address the issue, including mailing notification letters to affected individuals and launching a public website with information about the voter registration review process, frequently asked questions, and available support resources.

State officials said the Division of Elections has started removing more than 4,500 registrations that were determined to have resulted exclusively from the software error. The remaining registrations will be reviewed by county election officials because preliminary findings indicate that some of those individuals may, in fact, be U.S. citizens who are legally eligible to vote.

“We are taking this extra step because our initial review indicates that a number of these individuals may be citizens,” Sherrill said. “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 the administration is seeking to balance election integrity with protecting the voting rights of eligible residents.

Sherrill also defended her administration’s handling of the issue, saying officials acted quickly after discovering the error by publicly disclosing it and beginning an investigation.

She criticized former President Donald Trump and “MAGA Republicans,” accusing them of attempting to use the incident to advance voter suppression efforts and unfairly target individuals who were registered through no fault of their own.

“As I said last week, this is what accountable government looks like,” Sherrill said. “We inherited a problem. We didn’t hide it. We didn’t deny it. We’re investigating it. And we’re going to fix it, the right way.”

The administration said it will continue providing public updates as the investigation and voter registration review process moves forward.