Overview
- Gov. Mikie Sherrill said Tuesday that a ‘‘serious software error’’ in the state Motor Vehicle System wrongly registered about 6,600 people who answered ‘‘no’’ to the citizenship question and that preliminary state analysis shows roughly 400 of them voted.
- The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division opened an investigation and gave New Jersey five business days to produce detailed records, including voting histories, to verify whether other ineligible registrations remain.
- IDEMIA, the vendor New Jersey blamed for a glitch, pushed back and said it transmitted the data as designed and that the state Division of Elections is responsible for validating eligibility.
- Sherrill’s administration said it has hired outside investigator CSG, is removing the erroneous registrations, notifying affected residents, and plans to replace the vendor while reviewing how the error persisted under the prior administration.
- A larger Department of Homeland Security figure cited by the White House has not been reconciled with the state’s count, Republicans are pressing for audits and a halt to automatic DMV registration, and officials say it remains unknown which elections, if any, were changed by the roughly 400 improper ballots.