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Several states told USA TODAY they are examining whether a software program that allowed 6,600 noncitizens to register to vote in New Jersey could have happened in their state.
More than half of U.S. states and territories use the same vendor that New Jersey said July 21 that it is cutting ties with over a "serious software error" that registered 6,600 noncitizens to vote while they were getting drivers licenses, according to the vendor IDEMIA's website.
USA TODAY contacted the 36 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands that have an IDEMIA contract covering at least part of the work performed at their DMVs and found that states from Mississippi to Rhode Island are already reviewing their voter registration systems.
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One of the most prominent tech security companies and based in France, IDEMIA is used nationwide for identity-related security services like TSA PreCheck, facial recognition and mobile identification. In DMV agencies, IDEMIA's software assists with printing identification cards, taking photos, and collecting identifying data.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill announced July 21 that as many as 6,600 non-U.S. citizens registered to vote in New Jersey in 2023 and 2024 because of a software flaw. Fewer than 400 of them cast ballots, she said.
In a July 21 statement the company pushed back on New Jersey's claim of an error and said its role is to transmit information it captures from applicants while it is up to secretaries of state to ensure the information is accurate. And a company spokesperson, Lisa Peterson, told USA TODAY on July 22 that issues like those experienced in New Jersey have not been seen elsewhere.
"In response to questions from USA TODAY... IDEMIA has retested and confirmed that the voter information capture functionality is operating as intended in the other jurisdictions it supports," said Shoemaker, an IDEMIA senior vice president for Global Corporate Relations.
The incident comes just days after President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin made broad allegations about the number of noncitizens registered to vote in the United States. Mullin said his agency had used publicly available information to identify more than 250,000 potential noncitizens illegally registered to vote in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania. All of the states have denied the allegations.
The administration has put increasing pressure on states to share voter rolls and rely on a newly created federal database that uses immigration data, Social Security information and other sources to check whether people on their voter rolls can legally vote.
Each state has a different contract with IDEMIA Civil Identity NA LLC giving the state access to a variety of its services. Not all states that use the company as part of the DMV have it collect and transmit voter registration information.
For example, Louisiana's Office of Motor Vehicles uses IDEMIA exclusively for driver's license and ID card issuance, but not for voter registration. Illinois and Maine have a similar arrangement.
System reviews
In Missouri, like some other states, IDEMIA has a contract to issue identification cards including driver’s licenses – but it does not have the responsibility of determining whether someone is eligible to vote, said JoDonn Chaney, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Revenue, which handles motor vehicle and licensing issues.
That responsibility falls to the Secretary of State's office, Chaney told USA TODAY.
“The way our system is set up is that we send IDEMIA a file that says, ‘Hey, produce these IDs, and then they in fact do that for us. What they do for other states, I don't know,” Chaney said.
Chaney said that after receiving a request for comment from USA TODAY, the Department of Revenue asked its Motor Vehicle and Driver Licensing Division to conduct a check of its systems "to see if there is any issue that would be coming up because of your inquiry."
“At this point,” Chaney said, “we have found nothing out of the ordinary.”
In Mississippi, Secretary of State Michael Watson and Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell are already examining the system, Watson said in a statement.
“I’ve already checked with the Commissioner and can ensure Mississippians we’ll make sure our systems are operating correctly," Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson told USA TODAY.
Rhode Island's State Department Election Division has requested a meeting with the Division of Motor Vehicles and its vendor and asked for a complete system review.
"At this time, there is no indication that a similar issue has occurred here. Since 2019, at the request of the Elections Division of the (Rhode Island) Department of State, the Division of Motor Vehicles...conducts a regular audit of a randomized selection of DMV records to ensure that database entries match paper records. This process would identify any potential patterns of irregularities in registrations so that they could be immediately rectified," the division said in a statement.
Idaho, along with five other states, is exempt from the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which requires states make registering to vote an option when getting identification, because it offers Election Day voter registration. Still, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane said the call from USA TODAY made him reach out to find out if IDEMIA's system was used for voter registration at all. The DMV has a contract with IDEMIA, but does not do voter registrations.
Illinois no longer uses IDEMIA for the voter registration process at the DMV, the secretary of state's office said. Also, Illinois has a built-in "safeguard" where people applying for a driver's license are first asked about their citizenship status, said Illinois State Board of Elections spokesman Matt Dietrich. "If they answer no, they are blocked from the voter registration process and their information is not forwarded to us."
What happened?
Sherrill said July 21 that the noncitizens involved had answered "no" to whether they were a U.S. citizen while applying for their driver licenses and identification cards with the Motor Vehicle Commission, or MVC, but were registered to vote anyway. All 50 states allow legally present noncitizens to obtain drivers licenses.
Fewer than 400 of noncitizens actually voted and were registered as Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated in all parts of the state, she said.
In her response, Shoemaker told USA TODAY the 6,600 records submitted to New Jersey's MVC and Division of Elections "contained correct information according to the design specifications as set out by the state."
"All 6600 individuals indicated 'Yes' to wanting to register to vote and 'No' to being a US Citizen," Shoemaker said. "This information was recorded correctly and always available to the MVC via the database that MVC utilized to gather voter information and transmit to the Division of Elections. At no point was a noncitizen ever marked as a citizen in the database.”
The Justice Department has announced it will investigate the incident. In a letter to the state, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon asked New Jersey to provide information for the mistakenly registered noncitizens and for the fewer than 400 noncitizens who voted. She said on social media that the DOJ's Civil Rights Division will be "investigating this unlawful dilution of American votes."
Sherrill said the last administration should have made the mistake public when they uncovered it. Fellow Democrat Phil Murphy was governor at the time.
“It’s unacceptable that the vendor released software with such a glaring error," Sherrill said. "It’s unacceptable that the (motor vehicle commission) took a year to get this issue fixed and it’s unacceptable that no one in the previous administration brought this to light, demanded accountability or took action when it happened years ago.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Voter registration error in NJ prompts states to audit systems
