New Jersey Illegal Votes Scandal: 400 Legitimate Ballots Cancelled by Non-Citizen Errors

By Michael Dorstewitz
Thursday, July 23, 2026

New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, announced this week that “roughly 6,600” non-citizens were added to her state’s voter rolls between June 2023 and June 2024.

Sherrill attributed the error to a software issue with her state vendor. However, within hours of her statement, IDEMIA, the software vendor for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, issued its own clarification stating it is the state’s responsibility to verify voter eligibility.

“The voter registration information is transmitted to the New Jersey Department of State, Division of Elections, which is ultimately responsible for verifying eligibility to vote,” IDEMIA stated. “Information submitted by IDEMIA must still be validated and adjudicated by the Division of Elections.”

Sherrill also attempted to downplay the impact, noting that “our preliminary analysis shows fewer than 400 individuals who were newly registered for the first time because of the error voted.” She added these individuals were registered as Democrats, Republicans or Unaffiliated voters and were scattered across the state.

Yet each of those 400 illegitimate votes cancelled out a legitimate vote. Whether it was a Republican or Democrat voting in New Jersey, their ballots were negated due to the opposing non-citizen vote.

Sherrill knew about the error last week but delayed her announcement until Tuesday.

On the day before she made her statement, U.S. District Judge Georgette Castner dismissed the Republican National Committee’s lawsuit seeking access to New Jersey voter records. The judge ruled that the RNC lacked legal standing in the case, finding it did not demonstrate how withholding the requested records caused concrete injury or impaired efforts to increase voter participation.

Castner, appointed to the federal bench in 2022 by former President Joe Biden, made the decision.

Critics questioned whether this ruling was “another Trump loss.” Marc E. Elias, who served as general counsel for Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential campaign, called it “a win for voters,” noting a federal judge dismissed an RNC lawsuit seeking sensitive voter data from New Jersey.

But how can that be a win for voters when 400 legitimate Pennsylvania ballots were cancelled by non-citizen votes?

Scott Presler, a conservative activist known for organizing grassroots voter registration drives and community clean-up events, expressed appreciation: “Thank you for proving that non-citizens are BOTH being registered to vote & voting in our elections.”

Longtime journalist Geraldo Rivera observed the 400 wrongful votes cast in New Jersey had no impact on the 2020 presidential election outcome. “Biden won the Garden State in a rout with a margin of more than 700,000 votes,” he stated.

Rivera also suggested that President Trump’s condemnation of illegal voting was the real issue: “Still, it is just substantive enough to refuel the president’s obsession with ‘rigged elections.'”

The incident has raised concerns about voter confidence. As one analyst noted, “The more times this happens, the more likely it is for qualified voters to think, ‘why bother when some foreigner will just cancel my vote.'”

Senate Democrats have argued that the SAVE America Act—which would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for federal voter registration and photo ID before casting a ballot—is unnecessary because non-citizens are already illegal voters facing prosecution.

Given Sherrill’s admission that at least 6,600 non-citizens had registered to vote in New Jersey and at least 400 had cast ballots, experts warn the RNC should appeal Judge Castner’s decision and the Justice Department must file its own lawsuit seeking access to New Jersey voter rolls. Senate Republican leadership must pass the SAVE America Act to prevent future incidents.