Software Vendor Fires Back At NJ Governor Over Noncitizen Voting Scandal

New Jersey's noncitizen voter registration scandal has taken an uncomfortable turn for Gov. Mikie Sherrill, and the vendor she blamed for it is no longer taking the fall quietly.

IDEMIA, the French multinational that has worked with New Jersey's Motor Vehicle Commission for more than 40 years, is refusing to play the role assigned to it. What the company is now saying about who was responsible for approving registrations undercuts the governor's account.

Sherrill revealed on Tuesday that more than 6,600 noncitizens ended up on New Jersey's voter rolls between June 2023 and June 2024, and that fewer than 400 of them cast ballots. The individuals answered "no" when asked on an MVC keypad whether they were U.S. citizens, she said, and "through no fault of their own, the system registered them anyway." New Jersey has roughly 6.6 million registered voters.

"Let me be clear: this entire situation is unacceptable," Sherrill said. "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."

The previous administration was that of former Gov. Phil Murphy, also a Democrat.

IDEMIA told a different story. The company disputed the governor's characterization of its role, saying its software's function is limited to transmitting data from the MVC to New Jersey's Division of Elections, which the company says bears ultimate responsibility for verifying voter eligibility.

"IDEMIA works with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, and has for more than 40 years, to support the process through which eligible individuals may indicate their interest in registering to vote when applying for or renewing a driver's license or state-issued identification card," the company said in a statement. "IDEMIA's role is to transmit information through the motor vehicle system. The voter registration information is transmitted to the New Jersey Department of State, Division of Elections, which is ultimately responsible for verifying eligibility to vote. Information submitted by IDEMIA must still be validated and adjudicated by the Division of Elections."

Sherrill has said New Jersey will phase out the company's software regardless. She has also ordered the erroneous registrations removed, directed her chief counsel to investigate, and retained an outside firm, CSG Law, to conduct an independent review.

She simultaneously downplayed the severity of the situation and accused the Trump administration of trying to weaponize elections for political gain, saying the president has "zero credibility on the issue of election integrity."

The White House is all over it. "Democrats and their media allies have repeatedly said it is impossible for noncitizens to register to vote, let alone cast a ballot. Time and again, they have been proven wrong. As President Trump has said, there is nothing more important than the integrity of our elections," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. "And this latest incident underscores the absolute necessity of the SAVE America Act. American voters deserve to have confidence that our elections are safe and secure."

Feds Get Involved

The dispute is no longer confined to New Jersey. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has opened a federal investigation and demanded the state produce full names, dates of birth, nationalities, residential addresses, and registration dates and locations for the affected registrants, citing New Jersey's obligations under the Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act.

Running alongside it is a far larger and far less settled number. The Department of Homeland Security says it identified 19,497 New Jersey voter registrations where an individual's name, date of birth, address, and Social Security number matched federal records indicating the person is a noncitizen, and that a broader review suggests the figure could reach 35,152. 

"Election security is national security," said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. "As President Trump announced last night, DHS has identified over 250,000 potential non-citizens illegally registered to vote in just 4 U.S. states. Only Americans should be electing American leaders."