SerpApi.Org
Thousands of non-American citizens were allowed to register to vote thanks to a "software error" in the New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicles, the state's governor announced Tuesday.
In a lengthy post on the social media platform X, Democratic Gov. Mikie Sherrill went to great pains to emphasize that the error took place before she took office.
And she went even further, attacking President Donald Trump in the process.
"Last week I learned that a serious software error in New Jersey’s Motor Vehicle System led to the registration of roughly 6,600 people who indicated that they were not U.S. citizens between June 2023 and June 2024, almost three years prior to my taking office," Sherrill wrote at the beginning of the post.
She wrote that of those 6,600 registrants, only about 400 actually voted.
"They were registered as Democrats, Republicans and Unaffiliated voters and were scattered across the state," she wrote.
She emphasized her concern, declaring she was "appalled by the reckless failures that allowed this to happen and the lack of transparency shown by those in charge at the time."
And then she noted, for the third time, that "This failure didn’t occur under my watch, but accountability starts now."
Election integrity is a major concern of American conservatives and one of Trump's major talking points. In fact, he devoted much of a prime-time speech just last week to the topic. And he pumped the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship for voter registration.
So, even while acknowledging a serious breach in the systems of her own state, Sherrill -- the Democratic governor of a Democrat-dominated state government -- used her post to go on the attack.
"As the Trump Administration tries to weaponize elections for political gain, I am ensuring we protect our elections," Sherrill wrote.
"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."
Judging by the vast majority of the responses to Sherrill's post on social media, her take was not taken well:
Sherrill also conducted a news conference Tuesday to address the issue.
"I want to underscore how seriously I take this matter,” she said, according to The New York Times.
"I believe the integrity of our elections is fundamental to our democracy."
