New Jersey Republicans are demanding answers after Gov. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) revealed that thousands of noncitizens were mistakenly placed on the state’s voter rolls under the previous administration, sparking questions about why the error was not publicly disclosed for roughly two years after state officials discovered it.
Sherrill announced this week that a software error at the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission resulted in roughly 6,600 noncitizens being registered to vote between June 2023 and June 2024. About 400 of those individuals ultimately cast ballots before the problem was identified and corrected, according to her administration.
The disclosure has shifted attention from how the registration error occurred to what state officials knew after it was discovered in 2024. Sherrill did not say whether former Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, had been informed, leaving unanswered questions about when senior officials learned of the problem, who decided not to disclose it publicly, and why voters were not notified sooner.
While Sherrill stopped short of accusing Murphy or his administration of intentionally concealing the mistake, she repeatedly criticized what she described as a lack of transparency after learning about the issue only last week.
“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,” Sherrill said.
She faulted multiple parties, including the software vendor that released the defective system, the MVC for taking roughly a year to correct the error, and the previous administration for never publicly disclosing the incident or pursuing accountability.
“It is unacceptable that no one in the previous administration brought this to light, demanded accountability, or took action when it happened years ago,” she said.
Murphy left office in January after serving two terms. The Washington Examiner attempted to contact the former governor and his representatives multiple times without success, but spokesman Mahen Gunaratna told Politico: “Prior to Tuesday, Governor Murphy had no knowledge of any software glitch at the Motor Vehicle Commission that resulted in non-citizens being inadvertently added to New Jersey’s voter rolls. He applauds Governor Sherrill for initiating a review and looks forward to the findings.”
The company at the center of the dispute, France-based IDEMIA, rejected the administration’s characterization of the problem, saying its voter registration system functioned as designed and had been approved by New Jersey before it was implemented.
Republicans have criticized the delayed disclosure, arguing the state’s response warrants further investigation and alleging a cover-up.
Republican Assemblyman Greg McGuckin said he believes officials intentionally withheld information after learning of the registration problem.
“According to Gov. Sherrill, the Murphy administration knew about these illegally registered voters in 2024 and did nothing,” McGuckin told the Washington Examiner. “New Jersey deserves to know which public officials conspired to hide this and why Sherrill isn’t naming names.”
He also questioned the timing of Sherrill’s announcement, noting that it came after the Justice Department sued the state over access to its voter registration records.
“It is no coincidence that the governor came clean only after the DOJ subpoenaed New Jersey voter records,” he said.
McGuckin called for New Jersey’s automatic voter registration program through the MVC to be suspended and argued that anyone responsible for withholding information from the public should face prosecution.
“When you’re in a hole, the first thing you do is stop digging,” he said. “Automatic voter registration must be suspended immediately.”
McGuckin also said he finds it difficult to believe Murphy was unaware of the issue.
“I can’t imagine it wouldn’t have reached the governor if they knew 6,600 ineligible people had been put on the voting rolls,” he said. “All I know is the Justice Department started asking for records, and somebody decided we better get in front of this. And suddenly the governor is out front saying, ‘We just discovered this computer glitch.’ I have a healthy skepticism as to whether it was a computer glitch. The computer company is indicating, ‘No, not us.’”
State Sen. Michael Testa (R-NJ) said lawmakers deserve to know whether Murphy was informed about the problem.
“I would want to know: Did Gov. Murphy know anything at any point in time, and when did he know it, if at all?” Testa told Politico. “What I found to be really unfortunate about all this is how dismissive so many people in the Democrat Party were of this even being a possibility.”
Assembly Republican Leader John DiMaio renewed calls for a full audit of New Jersey’s voter rolls, saying Republicans had warned for years that the state’s automatic voter registration system lacked sufficient safeguards.
“New Jersey Republicans have been sounding the alarm for years that the automatic voter registration process at the MVC was highly problematic,” DiMaio said in a written statement to the Washington Examiner. “Trenton Democrats have continued to undermine public trust in our elections, and it’s time for change.”
Republican strategist Mike Hahn argued that the two-year delay in informing the public has become the central issue.
“If New Jersey Democrats want to talk about transparency, they can start by explaining why it took two years for the public to hear about thousands of ineligible voters on the rolls,” Hahn told the Washington Examiner.
He called on Sherrill to release “every email, every briefing, and every name of who knew what and when,” adding that “anything less is just her trying to cover up for the corrupt Phil Murphy administration.”
Hahn also argued the federal SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections, “would stop all of this,” while claiming the 6,600 registrations were “just the tip of the iceberg in New Jersey.”
Sherrill’s office rejected Republicans’ allegations, arguing they were using the incident to advance wider efforts to restrict voting rather than address election security.
“Let’s be clear, nothing that MAGA Republicans are arguing has anything to do with making elections more secure, and everything to do with voter suppression,” Steve Sigmund, a spokesman for Sherrill, told the Washington Examiner. “Governor Sherrill, on the other hand, is ensuring New Jersey runs secure elections where every eligible citizen can exercise their right to vote.”
Sigmund said the registration error occurred “under the previous administration — nearly three years before Governor Sherrill took office” and said she “immediately launched an independent investigation and took action to remove ineligible voters from the rolls.”
The controversy comes at a politically sensitive moment, with President Donald Trump making election integrity and proof-of-citizenship requirements a centerpiece of his administration. Although the roughly 400 improperly cast ballots represent a tiny fraction of New Jersey’s electorate, Republicans argue the incident highlights vulnerabilities in the state’s voter registration system.
Democrats rejected claims that the incident reflected widespread voter fraud, noting that the mistake had been corrected.
“It should have never happened. It’s been fixed,” state Sen. Andrew Zwicker (D-NJ) told Politico. “New Jersey elections are safe, they are secure.”
VENDOR REJECTS MIKIE SHERRILL’S CLAIM ‘SOFTWARE ERROR’ BEHIND NJ VOTER REGISTRATION
The episode marks Sherrill’s sharpest public break with Murphy since taking office. She has already distanced herself from several decisions made during his final months in office, including late-budget spending and financial commitments tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
This dispute, however, goes above policy disagreements. By publicly criticizing the previous administration’s handling of the voter registration error while leaving unanswered who knew about it and when, Sherrill has heightened scrutiny of Murphy’s final year in office. Whether the delayed disclosure reflected bureaucratic incompetence, poor communication, or something more deliberate remains an open question.