NJ review finds more than 1,000 voter registration records needing correction or further review

TRENTON, N.J. — A review of New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission voter registration procedures has identified more than 1,000 additional records requiring correction or further review, prompting Gov. Mikie Sherrill to announce new safeguards at the agency.

Sherrill announced Wednesday that the review uncovered about 750 records affected by an IDEMIA software error between June 2023 and June 2024, along with about 340 potentially improper voter registration records connected to MVC re-entry events dating back to 2016.

The governor’s office said neither of the newly identified issues involved noncitizens.

The approximately 750 people selected “no” when asked whether they met the age requirement to vote, but their records were still transmitted for registration. The state said dates of birth provided during the transactions showed all were old enough to vote and no underage person voted as a result of the error.

According to the administration, many of the individuals were well above voting age and may have mistakenly selected the wrong response on the PIN pad. Because they answered “no” to the age question, however, their registrations were not legally valid.

Of those records, about 380 people had no other registrations and did not vote. Their registrations are being placed in deleted status.

About 320 had other potentially valid registrations and voted and are being referred to county officials for review. Another approximately 50 were registered solely because of the error and voted. Those registrations are being placed in deleted status and referred to county officials for review.

The review also identified about 340 potentially improperly processed voter registrations stemming from MVC re-entry events dating back to 2016.

The administration said some individuals incorrectly attested that they were eligible to register despite being incarcerated for an indictable offense at the time. Those records are being referred to county election officials for individual review to determine whether deletion is appropriate.

Separately, about 60 people were identified as currently incarcerated. Their names are being sent to counties for remediation through the counties’ routine voter roll maintenance process.

The latest findings follow the administration’s earlier investigation into an MVC software error that affected about 6,600 people who selected “no” when asked whether they were U.S. citizens but whose information was nevertheless transmitted for voter registration between June 2023 and June 2024.

Sherrill announced in August that about 5,100 registrations tied solely to that error had been placed in deleted status and about 1,450 others were placed in rejected status pending additional review. The administration said at the time that approximately 340 people newly registered as a result of the error had voted.

As part of the latest reforms, the MVC is implementing an automated daily audit that will compare voter registration records with customers’ recorded responses before information is transmitted to election officials.

Incomplete or inconsistent records will be flagged for manual review, and the agency is establishing a process requiring anomalies to be reported to MVC leadership and tracked through investigation and correction.

The MVC is also adding clearer signage at Mobile Unit re-entry events and developing a PIN pad prompt requiring people seeking to register at those events to confirm they are not currently incarcerated for an indictable offense.

Voter registration questions are also being expanded to English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi and Simplified Chinese. MVC agencies will have multilingual signage and handheld translation devices supporting more than 80 languages.

The agency is also updating its online driver’s license and identification card renewal pages to provide clearer voter eligibility requirements and choices for customers to accept or decline voter registration.

Sherrill said the investigation remains ongoing and that her administration will continue reviewing the voter registration system.

Senate Republican Leader Anthony M. Bucco, R-Morris and Passaic, said the latest findings raised additional questions and renewed his call for a broader investigation and audit of the state’s voter rolls.

“I appreciate the Governor providing another update to this troubling situation, but these updates are creating more questions than answers. We are less than a month from Election Day and are learning that New Jersey’s voter registration system has identified hundreds of more ineligible voters registered to vote. Meanwhile the public has still not seen the report detailing the original 6,600 noncitizens who were improperly registered that led to hundreds of noncitizens voting in our elections. The only information that has been released has been derived from the administration’s press releases. New Jerseyans deserve to see the analysis that supports the conclusions reached,” Bucco said.

Bucco said the new findings make an expanded investigation and comprehensive audit more important and called for a legislative review of the issue.

Earlier this month, Bucco and other Senate Republicans signed onto SR-110, which would establish a special Senate committee called the New Jersey Voter Fraud Senate Investigatory Committee.

Bucco and Sen. Kristin Corrado, R-Bergen, Essex and Passaic, also introduced S-4616 on Oct. 1. The legislation would eliminate automatic voter registration at the MVC, require photo identification to vote and require twice-yearly audits of voter registration records.