by Ashe Short
Just hours after New Jersey Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill blamed a software glitch for thousands of non-citizens being registered to vote, the software company involved issued a statement disputing the claim.
IDEMIA, the software vendor for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, issued a statement saying it was the responsibility of the state government, which is completely controlled by Democrats, to verify eligibility to vote.
“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. IDEMIA’s role is to transmit information through the motor vehicle system,” IDEMIA said in a statement to Just the News.
“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 blamed the software company on Tuesday, Just the News reported, saying the glitch allowed 6,660 non-citizens to register to vote. She also said that as many as 400 of those non-citizens has in fact voted in a recent election, though she claimed those who voted “were registered as Democrats, Republicans and Unaffiliated voters and were scattered across the state.” It is unclear for which candidate the non-citizens voted.
“These individuals answered ‘no’ when asked on a keypad whether they were a U.S. citizen when applying for drivers’ licenses and identification cards, but through no fault of their own, the system registered them anyway,” Sherrill said.
Sherrill also said the error occurred under the previous administration of Gov. Phil Murphy, also a Democrat.
“I want to underscore how seriously I take this matter. As a military veteran who swore an oath to defend our Constitution, and as a former federal prosecutor, I believe the integrity of our elections is fundamental to our democracy. I am appalled by the reckless failures that allowed this to happen and the lack of transparency shown by those in charge at the time,” Sherrill said. “This failure didn’t occur under my watch, but accountability starts now. I am taking action to prevent anything like it from occurring in the future and make sure those responsible are held accountable.
“As the Trump Administration tries to weaponize elections for political gain, I am ensuring we protect our elections. Let me be clear: Donald Trump has zero credibility on the issue of election integrity. For more than ten years, he has worked to undermine Americans’ faith in our elections by spreading lies about legitimate election results, attempting to overturn a free and fair election, encouraging an attack on our Capitol when he couldn’t accept the will of the voters, and defunding election security at the federal level,” she added.
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Ashe Short is a reporter for Just the News. Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network and contributed to this story.
Background Photo “Voting Booths” by Tim Evanson. CC BY-SA 2.0.
