Trump Points to NJ Vote by Noncitizens as Proof of a “Crooked” System

Trump seizes on New Jersey's admission that noncitizens registered and voted, calling it evidence of a crooked election system and urging Americans to save the country.

First Published: July 22, 2026, 2:09 AM ET

WASHINGTON D.C. — Donald Trump seized on New Jersey’s admission that noncitizens cast ballots, calling the episode proof of what he labeled a crooked election system.

Trump amplified a report that Governor Mikie Sherrill, the Democrat leading New Jersey, acknowledged a motor vehicle software error had registered 6,660 noncitizens to vote. As many as 400 of them cast ballots, by mentioning the source (see justthenews).

Here is the full post on Truth Social: “A Crooked Election System!!! SAVE AMERICA!!! NJ governor forced to admit hundreds of foreigners voted in elections after Dems claimed no problem: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/state-motor-vehicle-system-registers-6600-non-citizens-vote-new-jersey” on July 22, 2026 at 6:01 AM ET.

This is the first message released by Trump today. On average, Trump produces about 3 posts per day since his inauguration on January 20, 2025.

The move fits a broader pattern in Trump’s recent messaging, with 102 of his 502 posts over the last 30 days focused on elections.

Sherrill blamed the registrations on a glitch in the state’s motor vehicle system that recorded applicants as citizens even after they correctly answered that they were not, according to justthenews. The applicants pressed “no” when asked on a keypad whether they were U.S. citizens while seeking driver’s licenses and identification cards, yet the system enrolled them anyway. The error occurred under the prior administration of Governor Phil Murphy, a fellow Democrat, and about 400 of those mistakenly registered cast ballots.

“These individuals answered “no” when asked on a keypad whether they were a U.S. citizen when applying for drivers’ licenses and identification cards, but through no fault of their own, the system registered them anyway,” Sherrill said, according to justthenews.

The admission carries stakes for both parties. Sherrill said the affected voters registered as Democrats, Republicans and Unaffiliated and were scattered across the state, according to justthenews. That spread blunts a partisan advantage claim, but it hands Trump and his allies fresh material to argue that voter rolls remain vulnerable to error.

The reversal came less than a week after Trump delivered a primetime address presenting what he described as election vulnerabilities, including noncitizens on voter rolls and concerns about voting machine security, according to justthenews. Sherrill had been among the Democrats who derided that speech before acknowledging the problem in her own state.

For the average reader, the case shows how administrative systems that touch driver’s licenses can feed voter rolls, and how a single keypad error can ripple into election records. Federal law bars noncitizens from voting in federal elections, so mistaken registrations create legal exposure for the individuals and administrative headaches for state officials.

This has happened before. States including California and Illinois have reported motor-voter registration errors that swept noncitizens onto rolls, prompting audits and corrections in recent years. Each instance drew scrutiny over how department of motor vehicle systems verify citizenship before transmitting data to election offices.

The next decision rests with New Jersey election officials, who said a preliminary analysis is underway to identify affected records, according to justthenews. A date for the completion of that review or any referral has not been announced.

Disputes over who may vote are as old as the Republic, as happened before. New Jersey briefly allowed some property-owning women and free Black residents to vote after 1776, one of the earliest such experiments in the new nation. The state legislature stripped those rights in 1807 and limited the franchise to white male taxpayers. The reversal stood for decades and showed how quickly a state could redraw the boundaries of its own electorate.