NJ finds 750 age-prompt errors and 340 re-entry records

New Jersey identified about 750 voter-registration records affected by an age-eligibility prompt error and about 340 potentially improper records associated with Motor Vehicle Commission re-entry events, Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s office said Oct. 7, 2026. Sherrill directed the MVC to strengthen its checks, including a daily audit before registration records are transferred to election officials.

The age-prompt records date from June 2023 through June 2024. The state said the customers had answered “no” to an age-eligibility question, but their records were nevertheless sent for registration. Their birth dates showed they were old enough to vote, the state said, and no underage person voted as a result.

The state said the records did not constitute legally valid registrations because the required eligibility process had not been completed. That finding does not establish that the affected people were otherwise ineligible to vote. The state divided the approximately 750 records into groups with different dispositions.

Age-prompt records sent for different actions

About 380 people had not voted and had no other registration. The state said their records were being placed in deleted status. About 320 had voted and had other potentially valid registrations; the state said their records were being referred to county officials for review.

Another approximately 50 people had voted and were registered solely because of the age-prompt error. The state said those records were being placed in deleted status and referred to counties. The approximate breakdown indicates that about 370 people in the group had voted, but it does not establish that their ballots were unlawful.

The age-prompt findings are separate from an earlier disclosure involving roughly 6,600 people who indicated they were not U.S. citizens but were registered during the same June 2023-to-June 2024 period.

Re-entry records and MVC safeguards

The state also identified about 340 potentially improper registration records associated with MVC re-entry events dating back to 2016. Those records were being referred to county election officials to determine whether deletion was appropriate. The state separately identified about 60 currently incarcerated people with registrations and said their names were being sent to counties for remediation. It did not specify how that group overlaps with the re-entry records.

New Jersey bars voting while serving a sentence of incarceration resulting from conviction of an indictable offense. The rule does not apply to every incarcerated person, and the state’s findings do not establish the status of every individual record.

The planned daily audit would compare MVC records with information prepared for transfer, including customers’ recorded answers about citizenship, age and whether they chose to register. Incomplete or conflicting records would be flagged for staff review and held back from transfer until reviewed and corrected. The state was still implementing the audit; it had not provided an activation date or results from the new checks.

Other announced changes include a PIN-pad confirmation for people seeking to register at re-entry events, registration questions in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi and Simplified Chinese, and signage and handheld translation devices supporting more than 80 languages. The MVC also plans to update online license-renewal pages with information about eligibility and registration choices. The state said it was transitioning to a new vendor but gave no completion date.

The governor’s office said its investigation was ongoing, and The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that an outside firm was also investigating. Sherrill’s administration attributed an earlier system error to the prior administration. IDEMIA disputed that account, telling the Inquirer its software followed state specifications and that the Division of Elections was responsible for validating eligibility. New Jersey Senate Republican leader Anthony Bucco said the update left questions unanswered and called for a public report and legislative review, the New Jersey Monitor reported.