Washington, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) described New Jersey’s mistaken registration of approximately 6,600 people who identified themselves as non-U.S. citizens as “unacceptable,” while arguing the incident should not be viewed as equivalent to former President Donald Trump’s longstanding claims about election fraud.
He described the incident as small in size compared to what President Trump said when he claimed 35,000 illegal aliens voted in New Jersey’s elections.
Kim made the comments during an interview after Gov. Mikie Sherrill disclosed that a Motor Vehicle Commission voter registration error resulted in thousands of ineligible registrations between June 2023 and June 2024.
Kim calls registration error a serious failure
Asked about the disclosure, Kim said the reported breakdown in New Jersey’s voter registration system represents a significant problem that requires accountability.
“I heard about it for the first time today as well, and I have to say, look, I mean, this is unacceptable and this needs to be fixed immediately and people need to be held accountable for that, especially if they’ve known this since it’s happened a couple years ago,” Kim said.
The senator added, “When there are mistakes, when there are things that are broken, we need to fix it.”
Senator says issue differs from Trump’s election claims
Kim cautioned against equating the New Jersey voter registration issue with Trump’s broader allegations about election fraud.
“But we also need to make sure that we’re looking at the problems in the right size, that this is not akin to what Donald Trump was talking about,” Kim said.
His remarks came after Sherrill announced that a preliminary review found fewer than 400 people who were newly registered because of the reported error ultimately cast ballots. The governor has ordered an investigation into the registrations and directed election officials to remove improperly registered individuals from the voter rolls.
Questions remain under investigation
The state has not yet released a county-by-county breakdown of the erroneous registrations or identified which elections the affected individuals may have voted in.
Meanwhile, the technology vendor for the Motor Vehicle Commission’s voter registration system, IDEMIA, has disputed the governor’s characterization that the issue resulted from a software glitch. The company said the New Jersey Division of Elections is ultimately responsible for verifying voter eligibility before registrations are finalized.
The state’s investigation into the voter registration errors remains ongoing.
