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Concerns about California's election integrity have been raised after it was discovered that software being used in the state's Department of Motor Vehicles may be at the center of New Jersey's recent controversy, after a program error allowed thousands of non-U.S. citizens to be registered to vote in New Jersey in 2023 and 2024.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced on Tuesday, July 21, that her office would remove over 6,600 non-U.S. citizens who had been incorrectly added to the state's voter rolls while applying for a driver's license or identification card with the state's Motor Vehicle Commission due to a software error. She emphasized that fewer than 400 people who were wrongfully registered had cast a ballot.
New Jersey is one of 19 states that have passed laws allowing non-U.S. citizens to obtain a driver’s license, and notably, none of these laws legally allow a non-U.S. citizen to register to vote while obtaining these forms of identification.
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At the press conference, Sherrill explained that the Motor Vehicle Commission used software created by IDEMIA, and when noncitizens applied for their driver's licenses and identification cards, the software failed to record their "no" answer when asked whether they wanted to register to vote.
The governor noted in her speech that the vendor had provided a fix for the software error in June 2024, nearly a year after the error began.
Notably, in March 2022, California announced that it would partner with IDEMIA Public Security North America, allowing the company to provide the state with a "reimagined" DMV by incorporating new technologies across its branches. Additionally, in October 2025, the state announced that the company would issue all Driver's Licenses and Identification Cards for the State of California.
It's unclear whether California's Department of Motor Vehicles used the same application software as New Jersey's Motor Vehicle Commission from June 2023 to June 2024.
USA TODAY reached out to IDEMIA to determine whether these software errors may have occurred in California's software between June 2023 and June 2024, but the company did not address this question in their response.
In a statement sent to USA TODAY, IDEMIA highlights that its role with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission was to "transmit information through the motor vehicle system" to the New Jersey Department of State.
"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," the company said in its statement.
USA TODAY reached out to the California Secretary of State Office to determine if it had a similar agreement with IDEMIA or if it was aware of any potential issues with the voter rolls.
The California Secretary of State Office had not responded to USA TODAY's questions at the time of publication.
However, Shirley Weber, California's Secretary of State, has argued on several occasions that "non-citizen voting remains exceedingly rare" in California. Weber noted that election officials constantly review voters' eligibility to ensure that the state's voting rolls are accurate.
Trump administration calls for states to review their voter rolls
Days before Gov. Sherrill's announcement, President Donald Trump asserted that elections in the United States have numerous weaknesses and questioned the country's election integrity.
This led Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to say his agency had identified more than 250,000 potential noncitizens illegally registered to vote in four states. He said he sent a letter asking secretaries of state in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania to review their voter rolls and respond within two weeks.
“We’re saying that the machines had to be secured and that your voter restoration list needs to be scrubbed,” Mullin told reporters on July 17. “I will tell you if the states choose not to participate – we will make sure that we make those states a priority to look at who voted in their states and hold the election officials accountable."
In response to this demand from the federal government, Weber called on President Donald Trump to "stop undermining confidence in our democracy, making it harder for eligible Americans to vote, and attempting to seize authority that the Constitution clearly reserves for the states," in a statement on July 17.
Weber noted that her office would "carefully review" the U.S. Department of Homeland Security methodology once it received Mullin's letter.
"We welcome legitimate best practices that comply with state and federal law while protecting Californians’ personal information," Weber added. "However, the information provided during the President's remarks and on the White House website, do not inspire any level of confidence in the methodology used or the conclusions reached."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NJ voter registration error puts California DMV vendor in focus
