Mikie Sherrill recently announced that 6,600 ineligible voters were found on New Jersey’s voter rolls due to a "serious software error" in the state’s Motor Vehicle System. This discovery is part of a decades-long pattern of noncitizens registered to vote in U.S. elections across multiple states.

Following a major address by President Donald Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin stated that preliminary Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reviews identified as many as 250,000 noncitizens registered to vote in four states: 35,152 in New Jersey, 190,832 in California, 15,903 in Nevada, and 14,576 in Pennsylvania.

Earlier this year, Louisiana Secretary of State reported that using the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, the state found 403 noncitizens on its voter rolls, 83 of whom had voted in elections. In Michigan, a 2024 election review found that credible cases of noncitizens casting ballots were "extremely rare," with 15 individuals appearing to be non-U.S. citizens having voted.

Historical data include a 2012 Colorado Department of State report identifying 3,903 registered voters with questionable citizenship status and 430 who self-identified as ineligible due to citizenship. In 2017, Pennsylvania elections commissioner Jonathan Marks testified that 1,160 apparent noncitizens had self-reported and canceled their registrations.

A notable case involved Michael Nana Baako, a Ghanaian national who registered to vote in Maryland in 2005 by falsely swearing U.S. citizenship and voted in 10 federal elections between 2006 and 2018, according to the Department of Justice.

A DHS spokesperson emphasized, "Whether or not a case is prosecutable doesn't change the fact that the wrongful vote happened — DHS found over 250,000 likely noncitizens on voter rolls nationwide, and New Jersey's own Governor confirmed 400 noncitizens voted there."

Since President Donald Trump's return to office, the Civil Rights Division has filed lawsuits against 30 states and the District of Columbia to compel the production of full voter registration lists under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).

Jason Snead, executive director of the Honest Elections Project, highlighted that this issue is not new and occurs in states with automatic voter registration. Some argue that noncitizen voting problems are more prevalent in blue states due to policies that allegedly facilitate such occurrences. However, others stress that election integrity should be a bipartisan concern, asserting, "ONLY Americans should elect American leaders."

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