New Jersey’s governor announced that approximately 6,600 individuals without citizenship were removed from the state’s voter rolls ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The removal stems from a software malfunction in the state’s motor vehicle registration system that incorrectly marked noncitizens as eligible voters between June 2023 and June 2024; the glitch was corrected in June 2024.
Preliminary analysis indicates that fewer than 400 of the improperly registered individuals actually voted. Those voters were distributed across the state, most listed no party affiliation, while a minority were recorded as Democrats or Republicans.
Following the discovery, the governor ordered an immediate investigation and directed the Division of Elections to purge all ineligible names from the voter lists.
The governor condemned the administrative failures, calling them reckless, and pledged to hold responsible parties accountable while implementing safeguards to prevent future occurrences.
A recent federal review compared publicly available voter registration data with immigration records, uncovering thousands of potential matches in several states.
The review estimated up to 190,000 noncitizens registered in California, 35,000 in New Jersey, 16,000 in Nevada and 15,000 in Pennsylvania, with specific matching counts identified for each state.
Officials described these findings as preliminary and urged state election officials to cooperate with the federal agency to verify identities before any further action is taken.
The governor also criticized the former president for spreading false claims about election results and for actions that have eroded public confidence in the electoral process.
