Between June 2023 and July 2024, approximately 6,600 noncitizens were erroneously registered to vote in New Jersey through an automatic registration program.. While about 400 of these individuals actually cast ballots, the technology provider IDEMIA insists the fault lies with state administration rather than its software.
The 6,600 noncitizens caught in the AVR glitch
The controversy centers on New Jersey's automatic voter registration (AVR) system, which is designed to streamline the process for eligible citizens. According to the report, roughly 6,600 noncitizens were inadvertently added to the voter rolls over a 13-month period. State officials have acknowledged the error but maintain that these registrations did not sway any election outcomes, despite the fact that 400 noncitizens successfully cast ballots.
This incident highlights a recurring tension in the deployment of AVR systems across the United States. While these systems are intended to increase voter turnout, they often rely on the seamless exchange of data between motor vehicle agencies and election boards. When the validation logic fails—or is ignored—the result is a compromised voter roll that becomes a flashpoint for political conflict.
IDEMIA's claim that 'No' citizenship marks were ignored
IDEMIA, the France-based firm responsible for the identity and access solutions, has pushed back against claims of technical failure. Lisa Shoemaker, IDEMIA's senior vice president of global corporate relations, stated that the system performed exactly as designed. As the report says, Shoemaker noted that all 6,600 individuals explicitly answered "No" to being a US citizen and "Yes" to wanting to register to vote.
The core of the dispute is where the failure occurred. IDEMIA argues that the software correctly recorded the noncitizen status and made that data available to the Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC). However, the company claims the error happened when that data was transmitted to the Division of Elections. In essence, IDEMIA asserts that the "red flag" was raised by the software, but the state officials receiving the data failed to act on it.
The DOJ's five-day deadline for voter data
The fallout has quickly escalated into a federal-state confrontation. The Trump administration has pointed to the New Jersey failure as a primary justification for stricter citizenship verification requirements nationwide.. This pressure culminated in a letter from the Department of Justice (DOJ) demanding that New Jersey provide the names, addresses , and nationalities of the affected noncitizens within five business days.
Governor Phil Murphy has resisted this demand, suggesting that the DOJ intends to "weaponize" the personal information of these individuals. This clash underscores a broader national trend where voter roll maintenance—once a bureaucratic task—has become a high-stakes legal battleground between state executives and federal authorities .
New Jersey's struggle with MVC bureaucratic inefficiencies
The current crisis is not an isolated event but part of a longer history of criticism directed at the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC).. The report notes that the MVC has faced longstanding criticism for bureaucratic inefficiencies, with some observers pointing to the partnership with IDEMIA as a contributing factor to these systemic failures.
Despite the implementation of a system modification in June 2024—which now automatically marks noncitizens as declining registration—several critical questions remain. specifically, it is unclear why the 6,600 individuals were not purged from the rolls immediately after the softwre fix was applied.. Furthermore, the source does not clarify which specific official at the Division of Elections was responsible for the final validation of the data transmitted from the MVC.
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