Gov. Mikie Sherrill said applicants accurately disclosed that they were not U.S. citizens, but a software malfunction recorded them as citizens and placed them on the state’s voter rolls.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A software error within New Jersey’s motor vehicle system improperly registered 6,660 noncitizens to vote after the system changed their correctly reported citizenship status, according to Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
The affected applicants had indicated that they were not citizens of the United States when submitting their information, Sherrill said. The system nevertheless recorded them as U.S. citizens and transmitted information that resulted in their voter registrations.
Sherrill acknowledged that some of the improperly registered individuals later cast ballots, according to reporting by Fox News.
The governor did not specify how many of the 6,660 noncitizens voted, which elections were affected or whether election officials had completed a review of every ballot connected to the erroneous registrations.
The malfunction occurred during the administration of former Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy, according to Sherrill.
The disclosure raises questions about the safeguards governing information exchanged between New Jersey’s motor vehicle and voter-registration systems.
Because the applicants reportedly answered the citizenship question correctly, the registrations were not attributed to false citizenship claims by the individuals. Instead, Sherrill described the problem as a software error that altered or misclassified information after it entered the state system.
The distinction is significant because eligibility to vote in federal and New Jersey elections requires U.S. citizenship. A system that changes a noncitizen response into a citizen designation can bypass the eligibility screening intended to prevent an unlawful registration.
New Jersey officials had not provided additional details in the submitted information about when the error began, how long it continued or when the state discovered it.
It also remained unclear whether all 6,660 registrations had been removed or suspended, whether affected individuals had been notified or what technical changes were made to prevent the same problem from recurring.
Sherrill’s statement confirms that the error went beyond the creation of inaccurate voter records because at least some of those records were used to cast ballots.
No information was provided establishing that the affected individuals knew they had been mistakenly registered or deliberately attempted to vote despite being ineligible.
The acknowledgment instead places responsibility for the original registrations on the state’s automated process, which incorrectly converted truthful noncitizen responses into records identifying the applicants as citizens.
The incident could prompt further examination of how New Jersey verifies citizenship before adding motor vehicle applicants to its voter rolls and how election officials reconcile those records with other state and federal databases.
The state may also face questions about whether election administrators received warnings or conflicting information that should have prevented ballots from being issued to the affected registrants.
Sherrill did not announce any criminal referrals, disciplinary measures or formal investigation in the information provided.
The number of ballots cast by the improperly registered individuals will be central to determining the practical effect of the error. Without that figure, the scope of participation in prior elections remains unknown.
The disclosure nevertheless establishes that a state software failure placed 6,660 noncitizens on New Jersey’s voter rolls even though those applicants had accurately stated that they were not U.S. citizens.
State officials have not yet provided a complete public accounting of how the malfunction occurred, how many elections may have been affected or whether every inaccurate registration has been corrected.
Original article
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