Nothing says "functioning democracy" quite like a computer deciding that people who literally pressed a button saying "I am not a citizen" should totally be registered to vote anyway. Welcome to New Jersey, folks.
Governor Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, publicly confirmed that roughly 6,600 non-citizens ended up on the state's voter rolls thanks to what she called a "serious software error" at the Motor Vehicle Commission. As Trending Politics reported, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division wasted no time launching an investigation into this spectacular bureaucratic faceplant.
Here's the truly beautiful part. Between June 2023 and June 2024, people applying for driver's licenses correctly told the system via keypad that they were NOT U.S. citizens. The system heard that loud and clear and then registered them to vote anyway. That's like telling a waiter you're allergic to peanuts and getting served a peanut butter sandwich. The vendor responsible for this technological masterpiece? A company called IDEMIA, which sounds like a pharmaceutical side effect but is apparently a software provider.
Of those 6,600 registrations, nearly 400 individuals actually cast ballots in elections since 2023. They were spread across party lines, including Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters, located throughout different parts of the state.
Now, Sherrill handled this the way politicians always do when something goes wrong. She pointed directly at the guy who had the job before her. Former Governor Phil Murphy apparently oversaw this whole mess, and Sherrill wants everyone to know she just found out about it last week. She insists no election outcomes were changed and that this disaster happened before she took office. "Accountability starts now," she declared, which is political speak for "please don't blame me for this."
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who leads the Civil Rights Division, was decidedly less interested in the blame game. She called the situation "unacceptable and illegal" and characterized non-citizen voting as an "unlawful dilution of American votes." The DOJ requested detailed records including full voter rolls and information on all 6,600 registrations plus the approximately 400 ballots cast.
This investigation fits neatly into a pattern. Back in February, the DOJ sued New Jersey and several other states for refusing to hand over complete voter registration lists. Then earlier this month, Dhillon sent letters to election officials in every single state plus Washington D.C., reminding them that keeping non-citizens on voter rolls could result in criminal liability under federal law. Those letters also offered help with compliance, which is the government equivalent of saying "nice voter rolls you got there, would be a shame if something happened to them."
New Jersey uses automatic voter registration tied to motor vehicle transactions, a system where applicants are supposed to accurately answer eligibility questions. Apparently nobody considered what would happen if the software just ignored those answers entirely. Technology, am I right?
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