Republican members of the New York State Assembly are demanding a legislative hearing to investigate potential flaws in the state's voter registration system .. This request follows a software failure in New Jersey that mistakenly registered approximately 6,000 non-citizens to vote. The concern centers on Idemia,a third-party identity verification firm used by agencies in both states.
The 6,000 non-citizen registrations in New Jersey
The catalyst for the current political friction in New York was a disclosure from New Jersey officials regarding a significant software malfunction. As reported by The New York Post, this error resulted in roughly 6,000 individuals being registered to vote despite having explicitly indicated on their applications that they were not U.S. citizens. The failure was traced back to Idemia, a global identity verification giant.
This incident highlights a recurring tension in modern election administration: the reliance on private contractors to manage the intake of sensitive data. While Idemia claims its role was limited to transmitting information to the New Jersey Department of State, Division of Elections, the outcome suggests a breakdown in the verification pipeline. This echoes broader national anxieties regarding the integrity of voter rolls and the potential for technical glitches to undermine electoral confidence.
Idemia's $250 million footprint in New York
The alarm in Albany is driven by the deep financial and operational integration of Idemia within New York state government. According to the report, financial records show that Idemia has billed New York state nearly a quarter of a billion dollars for various contracts since 2005. This relationship includes $15.5 million in new long-term contracts for fingerprinting services signed just this year.
Because Idemia provides services to the New York Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), Republican lawmakers argue that the company's influence over state data systems is too significant to ignore. The scale of this investment creates a perceived risk that a technical vulnerability in one state's implementation of Idemia's software could exist in another, regardless of whether the specific workflows differ.
The dispute between Assemblyman Matt Slater and the NY Board of Elections
Assemblyman Matt Slater (R-Putnam), the ranking member of the Assembly Elections Committee, has formally requested a hearing to determine if New York's infrastructure shares the same weaknesses found in New Jersey. Slater argues that the substantial public investment in Idemia's technology necessitates prompt oversight to ensure the system accurately distinguishes between eligible and ineligible applicants.
However, state election officials have pushed back against these claims. Kathleen McGrath, a spokesperson for the New York State Board of Elections, asserted that New York does not use an external vendor like Idemia for processing voter registrations.. McGrath stated that the New York process is fundamentally different from the New Jersey model, meaning the state is not subject to the same software issues.
How the NY DMV transmits data to election boards
Despite the assurances from the Board of Elections, a critical point of contention remains regarding the exact path data takes from the DMV to election officials. Walter McClure, a spokesperson for the DMV, stated that Idemia has no involvement in the systems used to transfer voter registration applications to the Board of Elections, claiming the DMV merely submits applications rather than processing them.
This creates a gap in the public record that Republican lawmakers are eager to close. Specifically, it remains unclear exactly which software handles the hand-off between the DMV and the state and county boards of elections. Furthermore, while a source told The Post that Idemia was involved in modernizing DMV systems, the state has not provided a detailed map of where Idemia's access ends and the Board of Elections' independent verification begins.
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