TRENTON, N.J. – New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill is pushing back against congressional Republicans demanding answers over a state voter-registration failure that improperly placed about 6,600 self-identified noncitizens on the voter rolls, fewer than 400 of whom were found to have cast ballots. They are also investigating another 5,000 noncitizen voter registrations found after the initial alleged ‘software glitch’.
Those voters were not registered through the alleged glitch.
In a response to Republican lawmakers, Sherrill said her administration remains committed to election integrity but accused her critics of using the issue for “political gain.”
The governor also defended the state’s investigation and rejected Republican arguments that the episode demonstrates a need for the federal SAVE America Act.
The controversy dates to a software problem affecting Motor Vehicle Commission transactions between June 2023 and June 2024. People who had identified themselves as noncitizens were nevertheless improperly registered; Sherrill has said the state found fewer than 400 subsequently voted and that there was no evidence any election outcome was changed.
- About 6,600 people who identified themselves as noncitizens were improperly registered because of a software error, according to state disclosures.
- Fewer than 400 of those individuals were found to have cast ballots, with the governor saying there was no evidence an election result was affected.
- Nineteen House Republicans demanded answers from Sherrill in July, including questions about voter-roll safeguards and cooperation with federal authorities.
Sherrill Accuses Republicans of Politicizing Voter Registration Failure
Sherrill’s response came after Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., led 18 other House Republicans in a July 24 letter demanding information about what they characterized as a major breakdown in New Jersey’s voter-registration safeguards. The lawmakers sought a response by Aug. 21.
“My administration is fully committed to ensuring that elections in New Jersey remain free and fair, and we treat the integrity of the State’s elections as a matter of the utmost seriousness,” Sherrill wrote in the response shared Friday.
But Sherrill quickly turned her attention to the lawmakers questioning her administration.
“Washington Republicans on the other hand, seem much more concerned with using the issue for political gain than they are with protecting our elections,” Sherrill wrote.
She accused several signatories of supporting President Donald Trump’s challenges to the 2020 election results, writing that seven had voted to challenge electoral votes.
Sherrill also took aim at an unnamed signatory to the letter, writing that “one of the signatories to your letter employed an operative convicted of voter fraud, bribery, and blackmail.” The excerpt released by the governor did not identify the lawmaker or operative by name, and Shore News Network has not independently established whom Sherrill was referencing.
Republicans Demand Answers on 6,600 Improper Registrations
Van Drew and the other Republican lawmakers framed the registration problem differently, arguing that the episode demonstrated weaknesses in New Jersey’s election systems.
According to Van Drew’s office, approximately 6,600 people were registered despite answering “no” when asked whether they were U.S. citizens while applying for driver’s licenses or identification cards. His office said nearly 400 subsequently cast ballots.
“When the state uncovers a failure of this magnitude, it cannot simply acknowledge the problem and move on,” Van Drew said when announcing the congressional inquiry.
Republicans asked whether any election had been decided by fewer votes than the number of improper ballots, what testing New Jersey performs on its voter-registration systems and whether the state would cooperate with the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security. They also pressed Sherrill on whether she would support proof-of-citizenship requirements for voter registration.
The governor disputed Republicans’ contention that the SAVE America Act would have prevented the software failure. In her response, she wrote that the affected individuals had answered that they were not citizens, although she acknowledged that subsequent investigation indicated some may have held valid registrations.
Sherrill also criticized the federal SAVE database, arguing that it has documented accuracy problems and could lead to eligible citizens being incorrectly removed from voter rolls.
What New Jersey Says Happened
The available state disclosures to date and independent reporting support a figure of approximately 6,600 self-identified noncitizens who were improperly registered because of the software problem.
Sherrill has admitted that the error occurred between June 2023 and June 2024 and that fewer than 400 of those people were found to have voted.
Sherrill has said those voters were not concentrated in one political party or one election and that investigators found no evidence that an election outcome was altered.
Republicans want to know for sure, and aren’t taking the governor’s word for it.
Republicans have argued that the known cases raise broader questions because the 6,600 were discovered precisely because they identified themselves as noncitizens. Van Drew said the public deserves to know what safeguards exist if the system failed even when applicants accurately disclosed that they were not citizens.
Sherrill, meanwhile, said an investigation remains underway and is being conducted by a bipartisan firm led by a former state attorney general who served under a Republican governor. She pledged continued public reporting and said her administration would approach the issue with “transparency, integrity, and accountability.”
The dispute now extends beyond the underlying software failure into a larger partisan fight over citizenship verification, voter-registration systems and federal election legislation ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
How many noncitizens were improperly registered to vote in New Jersey?
The state has reported approximately 6,600 self-identified noncitizens were improperly registered because of a software problem. The available evidence reviewed by Shore News Network does not support the claim that 11,000 were registered.
How many of the improperly registered individuals voted?
State officials said fewer than 400 were found to have cast ballots. Sherrill said investigators had no evidence at the time that those ballots changed the outcome of an election.
What are Republicans demanding from Gov. Mikie Sherrill?
Nineteen House Republicans sought information about how the failure occurred, voter-roll safeguards, where ballots were cast, federal cooperation and whether Sherrill would support additional citizenship-verification requirements.
Sources: Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s written response shared Aug. 21, 2026; Rep. Jeff Van Drew congressional office press release and July 24 congressional letter; Republican Study Committee statement;
