Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Tuesday that a software error in New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle Commission system led to the voter registration of about 6,600 people who said they were not U.S. citizens while applying for driver’s licenses or identification cards between June 2023 and June 2024.

In a statement, Sherrill said the individuals answered “no” when asked whether they were U.S. citizens, but were registered to vote because of what she described as a system error that occurred under the previous administration.

Addressing the media Tuesday, Sherrill said she ordered her chief counsel to investigate how the error occurred and directed officials to remove from the voter rolls anyone who was mistakenly registered during that period. She also said the MVC administrator she appointed has begun replacing the vendor responsible for administering the system.

According to the governor, a preliminary analysis found that fewer than 400 people who were newly registered because of the error cast ballots. She said those voters were registered as Democrats, Republicans and a majority as unaffiliated voters and were located throughout the state.

Sherrill called the error “a reckless failure” and said her administration would hold those responsible accountable while taking steps to prevent similar problems in the future.

“Let me be clear. This entire situation is unacceptable. 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 happened years ago,” Sherrill said.

A representative for the previous administration could not immediately be reached for comment.

Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin responded to Sherrill's announcement in a social media post:

"Appreciate you responding back to our letter, @GovSherrillNJ. This should’ve been done a LONG time ago. Just ONE illegal vote cancels out the vote of a U.S. citizen. As @DHSgov reported last week—New Jersey could have as many as 35,152 potential non-citizens registered to vote. Looking forward to working with you to secure your elections in the future."

State Sen. Kristin Corrado, ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, released a statement that said in part: 

"I sent SIX separate letters raising concerns and calling for action AND introduced legislation that would have provided a commonsense safeguard by preventing the MVC from prompting non-citizens to register to vote but my warnings were repeatedly ignored by the Democrats. Now we are learning that a catastrophic government failure allowed thousands of non-citizens to be registered to vote, and suddenly everyone is acting surprised."

Sherrill said New Jersey residents should remain confident that eligible citizens can vote, lawful votes will be counted and election integrity will be protected.

“My team is taking a hard look at the process failures that occurred under the previous administration, and the guardrails we can put down for the future,” Sherrill said.