NJ begins to fix voter registration mistakes
Non-citizens to be removed from rolls
By: Katie Sobko
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Governor Mikie Sherrill said on Tuesday, July 28, [2026] that of the 6,600 non-citizens erroneously registered to vote in New Jersey between June 2023 and June 2024, the Division of Elections has started the process to remove 4,500 from Garden State voter rolls.
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Sherrill, in a statement, said the Motor Vehicle Commission has mailed letters to those affected by the software error and that the remaining registrations are being refereed to county election officials for additional review.
..... "We are taking this extra step because our initial review indicates that a number of these individuals may be citizens," Sherrill said. "That has been the case in other states where clerical and administrative voter registrations errors have occurred, and we're determined to get this right."
..... The update comes on the same day the governor held a rally at Union Baptist Church in Trenton to celebrate the John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act of New Jersey.
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That legislation, which Sherrill signed into law on July 2, [2026] is geared toward strengthening voter rights by expanding access, increasing protection against suppression and discrimination at the polls, and increasing ballot language options.
..... "Sometimes we have leaders who become mythical even in their lifetime, and John Lewis was that leader," the governor said.
..... "He had a history where he was beaten, her he fought for civil rights and justice."
..... Sherrill talked about her time working on the election protection hot-line when she was an attorney. She said it seemed "that we were past some of the voting rights problems" but that she would get calls about issues that forced the attorney to jump into action.
..... At that time, states would need the federal government's approval to change election standards, but Sherrill said "Trump handpicked justices" did away with that.
..... This spring, [2026] those justices gave states "more power to redraw their maps and dilute the politician power of millions of voters of color," the governor said.
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Assemblywomen Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, the sponsor of the legislation, said getting to this point has been a years-long journey.
..... "This is what good government looks like, when we all can work together," she said before speaking about a trip lawmakers took to Alabama, where they had a chance to "feel the moment and what we are fighting for."
..... "We see the decimation that's happening ion Selma, the intentionally not to build there," Reynolds-Jackson said. "We see what happens when systems don't work for us. We took that energy and we came back and said we have to do something."
..... On July 21, [2026] the Sherrill administration revealed that as many as 6,600 non-U. S. citizens resisted to vote in New jersey in 2023 and 2024 because of a software flaw. The governor explained that the flaw, which occurred between June 2023 and June 2024, years before she took office, resulted in about 400 people who weren't eligible actually voting.
..... Sherrill said non-citizens involved had answered "no" while applying for their driver's licenses and identification cards with the Motor Vehicle Omission but were resisted to vote anyway.
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The governor's announcement came days after U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin asked election officials in New Jersey and three other states to check voter rolls for people who are not citizens.
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The governor said she was "appalled by the reckless failures hat allowed this to happen and the lack of transparency shown by those in charge at the time."
..... "Let me be clear, this entire situation is unacceptable," Sherrill said. "It's unacceptable that the vendor released software with such a glaring error. It's unacceptable that the MVC took a year to get this issue fixed, and it's unacceptable that no one in the previous administration brought this to light, demanded accountability or took action when it happed years ago."
..... There were 6,688,367 resisted voters in New Jersey as of June's [2026] primary election, said the state's Division of Elections.