Federal officials claim thousands of noncitizens are registered to vote across four states, including New Jersey, where a state-level software glitch recently added thousands of noncitizens to voter rolls and led hundreds to cast ballots. The disclosures have intensified a partisan clash over federal election security legislation ahead of the November midterms.
The debate over noncitizen voting intensified as Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin amplified the Trump administration’s assertion that more than a quarter of a million noncitizens were registered to vote in four key states. Those states—California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada—have not complied with federal demands to hand over their voter data.
In a press conference following an election security address delivered by President Donald Trump, Mullin stated that an additional 28,000 noncitizens were registered to vote across 23 other states that cooperated with the administration and ran their records through an overhauled centralized federal database.
The New Jersey Software Glitch and Voter Rolls
In New Jersey, Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill revealed that a software error registered non-citizens as voters between June 2023 and June 2024. The glitch mistakenly added about 6,600 non-citizens to the state voter rolls, even though those individuals answered no when asked whether they were United States citizens while applying for driver’s licenses or identification cards.
A preliminary state analysis indicated that fewer than 400 of those individuals actually cast ballots. Those who voted included Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters. Sherrill noted that she learned of the error on Wednesday, ordered the removal of the mistakenly added individuals, and initiated steps to replace the vendor responsible for the error, which occurred prior to her taking office in January. The software glitch itself was corrected in 2024.
More than 4 million people voted in New Jersey in the 2024 presidential election, meaning that if around 400 non-citizens voted in that contest, they represented less than one in 10,000 ballots cast. We have no evidence at this time that any elections were swayed,
Sherrill said during a press conference.
White House Response and the SAVE America Act
The White House seized upon the New Jersey disclosure to press for the passage of the SAVE America Act voting bill, arguing that the incident proves noncitizen voting is a legitimate concern. The proposed legislation would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and present a photo ID to cast a ballot.
Democrats have thus far blocked the bill in the Senate, with voting rights groups arguing that the legislation is intended to disenfranchise legitimate voters, particularly younger voters, people of color, and lower-income workers who are more likely to lack the required documentation.
Methodology Debated and Data Scrutinized
Independent election experts have questioned the reliability of the administration’s broader figures. A White House official told reporters that the estimate of 250,000 registered noncitizens across California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada was based on an analysis of commercial databases.
David Becker, executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, warned that commercial database analysis is prone to generating false positives and significantly overestimating potential noncitizens on voter rolls.
Becker added that the data likely includes a majority of people who are absolutely eligible voters, and warned that states could violate the law by removing them from the rolls based on such checks. Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, and no state allows noncitizens to vote in statewide contests, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. Municipalities in just three states and the District of Columbia permit noncitizens to vote in local elections, such as for school boards.
State Officials Push Back Against Federal Figures
State election officials have demanded transparency regarding the administration’s sweeping claims. Nevada’s Democratic secretary of state, Francisco Aguilar, issued a statement criticizing the figures as speculative and noting that the Department of Homeland Security had not shared any supporting evidence.
Sherrill echoed those concerns, noting that New Jersey requested evidence behind the administration’s claims about tens of thousands of registered noncitizens in the state but received no reply. Federal officials continue to press state leaders to review and scrub their voter registration lists ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
