On Tuesday, New Jersey Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced that 6,600 noncitizens were able to be put onto the voter rolls across the state.
According to Sherrill, the “error” was led by a software company, not state officials.
Now the software company being blamed is fighting back and says government officials knew about the trove of non-citizens able to vote… and swept it under the rug.
Sherrill claimed Tuesday that a “serious software error” in the state’s Motor Vehicle System involving French tech company IDEMIA caused the mishap, which led to some 400 noncitizens voting.
But according to a New York Post report, IDEMIA said that the state had access to data showing that those individuals were not citizens and apparently registered them to vote anyway.
Software vendor says NJ approved 6,600 noncitizens who were registered to vote – and Mikie Sherrill got it all wrong https://t.co/BPBHHQIaNz pic.twitter.com/iPeLlurBcR
— New York Post (@nypost) July 22, 2026
According to the report, the problem came from software that the NJ Motor Vehicle Commission used to register people to vote when they signed up for a New Jersey ID. This a similar practice employed in dozens of states.
ID recipients who said they wanted to register to vote, but declared that they were noncitizens, were added to voter rolls in 2023 and 2024, despite it being illegal under federal law.
“The 6,600 records submitted to the [Motor Vehicle Commission] and Division of Elections contained correct information according to the design specifications as set out by the state,” Lisa Shoemaker, a spokesperson for IDEMIA, told The Post yesterday in a statement.
“All 6,600 individuals indicated ‘Yes’ to wanting to register to vote and ‘NO’ to being a US Citizen,” she added.
“This information was recorded correctly and always available.”
“At no point was a noncitizen ever marked as a citizen in the database.”
A New Jersey state official disputed IDEMIA’s claims.
“No, that is not correct,” the official told The Post. “Anytime somebody answers ‘no’ to the citizenship question, that record should not be transmitted to the Division of Elections.”
IDEMIA’s claims raise questions about why voter registration data submitted during applications for drivers’ licenses or identification wasn’t properly screened by New Jersey.
It’s also not clear whether New Jersey had any safeguards in place for people who made mistakes — or situations where people lied about being citizens, according to the report.
This date mishap took place under Sherrill’s predecessor, former Gov. Phil Murphy (D).
Sherrill announced Tuesday that the state has hired an outside group, CSG, to investigate the matter.
“IDEMIA does not control or manage voter enrollment, our role is simply to collect self-reported citizenship and interest data,” Shoemaker explained.
“This leads to more questions – if the Division of Elections had missing information which is required to register in the State of New Jersey, did the Division of Elections approve these individuals be added to the Voter Rolls.”
Shoemaker said that IDEMIA believes the data sent over to the Division of Elections also missed key information such as party affiliation.
President Trump has recently cited this New Jersey scandal as a case study for why more robust guardrails are needed to protect election integrity.
For months, Trump has been championing the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote, among other measures.
Shortly after Sherrill’s stunning announcement about the 6,600 non-citizens in New Jersey getting registered to vote, the Justice Department demanded the governor hand over key data, including the names of the people who were added to the voter rolls in error.
This is an ongoing story. Check back for updates.