Markwayne Marin talks about election integrity and Iranian interference
Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin urged states to ensure elections are held as critics discuss fraud and allegations of Iranian interference.
Several states told USA TODAY they are investigating whether a software program that allowed New Jersey’s 6,600 noncitizens to register to vote may have originated in the state.
More than half of U.S. states and territories use the same vendor that New Jersey announced on July 21 that it was cutting ties with the state over a “significant software error” that caused 6,600 noncitizens to register to vote while getting driver’s licenses, according to the vendor IDEMIA website.
USA TODAY contacted the 36 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands that have IDEMIA contracts that cover at least some of the work done at the DMV and found that states from Mississippi to Rhode Island have already overhauled their voter registration systems.
IDEMIA, one of the most prominent technology security companies based in France, is used nationwide for identity-related security services such as TSA PreCheck, facial recognition, and mobile ID. At DMV agencies, IDEMIA’s software helps print IDs, take photos, and collect identification data.
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill announced on July 21 that up to 6,600 non-Americans were unable to register to vote in New Jersey in 2023 and 2024 due to a software flaw. Of those, less than 400 people voted.
In a July 21 statement, the company pushed back on New Jersey’s claims that it was in error, saying its role was to pass on the information it received from applicants and that it was up to the secretary of state to determine whether the information was accurate. And company spokeswoman Lisa Peterson told USA TODAY on July 22 that the company has not seen problems like the one experienced in New Jersey elsewhere.
“In response to questions from USA TODAY… IDEMIA has retested and confirmed that the voter information retrieval feature is working as intended in other supported jurisdictions,” Shoemaker, IDEMIA’s senior vice president of global corporate relations, said in a statement.
The incident comes days after President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin made sweeping claims about the number of noncitizens registered to vote in the United States. Mullin said his agency used public information to identify more than 250,000 potential noncitizens who were illegally registered to vote in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania. All states have denied the allegations.
The administration is increasing pressure on states to share voter rolls and rely on a new federal database that uses immigration data, Social Security information and other sources to verify whether people on voter rolls can legally vote.
Each state has a different contract with IDEMIA Civil Identity NA LLC that allows the state to access different services. Not all states that use the company as part of their DMV collect and transmit voter registration information.
For example, the Louisiana Department of Transportation uses IDEMIA only to issue driver licenses and ID cards, but not for voter registration. Illinois and Maine have similar arrangements.
system review
In Missouri, as in some other states, IDEMIA is contracted to issue identification documents, including driver’s licenses, but Jordon Cheney, a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Revenue, which handles motor vehicle and licensing issues, said IDEMIA is not responsible for determining whether a person is eligible to vote.
That responsibility rests with the Secretary of State’s office, Cheney told USA TODAY.
“The way our system is set up is we send a file to IDEMIA that says, ‘Hey, create these IDs,’ and they actually do it for us. I don’t know what they’re going to do for other states,” Cheney said.
In response to a request for comment from USA TODAY, Cheney said the Department of Revenue has asked the Bureau of Motor Vehicle Licenses to conduct a check on its system “to see if your inquiry causes any problems.”
“At this point, we haven’t found anything out of the ordinary,” Cheney said.
In Mississippi, Secretary of State Michael Watson and Department of Public Safety Secretary Sean Tindell are already considering the system, Watson said in a statement.
Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson told USA TODAY, “We’ve already checked with the secretary and we can reassure Mississippians that the system is working properly.”
The Rhode Island Department of State’s Elections Division requested a meeting with the Department of Motor Vehicles and its vendors, asking for a complete review of the system.
“At this time, there is no indication that a similar issue has occurred here. Since 2019, at the request of the (Rhode Island) State Department of Elections Division, the Department of Transportation has conducted regular audits of randomly selected DMV records to ensure that database entries match paper records. This process will identify potential patterns of fraud in registrations and allow for immediate correction,” the division said in a statement.
Idaho, along with five other states, is exempt from the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. The law requires voter registration as an option for obtaining identification, as each state offers Election Day voter registration. Still, Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGlen said the call from USA TODAY prompted him to reach out to see if IDEMIA’s system is actually being used to register voters. Although the DMV has a contract with IDEMIA, it does not perform voter registration.
According to the Secretary of State’s Office, Illinois no longer uses IDEMIA for the voter registration process at the DMV. Matt Dietrich, a spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Elections, said Illinois has built in “safeguards” that first ask people who apply for a driver’s license whether they have citizenship. “If they say no, they will be blocked from the voter registration process and their information will not be forwarded to us.”
what happened?
Sherrill said on July 21 that unaffiliated people answered “no” to whether they were U.S. citizens when applying for driver’s licenses and identification cards with the Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC), but were registered as voters anyway. All 50 states allow legally present noncitizens to obtain a driver’s license.
Fewer than 400 noncitizens actually voted and were registered as Democrats, Republicans and as independents across the state, she said.
In response, Shoemaker told USA TODAY that the 6,600 records submitted to the New Jersey MVC and Elections Department “contained correct information in accordance with the state’s design specifications.”
“All 6,600 people said yes to registering to vote and no to becoming U.S. citizens,” Shoemaker said. “This information is accurately recorded and has always been available to MVC through the database it utilizes to collect and transmit voter information to the Office of Elections. At no time has a non-citizen been marked as a citizen within the database.”
The Department of Justice announced it would investigate the incident. In a letter to the state, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon asked New Jersey to provide information about the erroneously registered noncitizens and the fewer than 400 noncitizens who voted. She said on social media that the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division would “investigate the unlawful dilution of the American vote.”
Mr Sherrill said the previous government should have made the mistake public when it became clear. The governor at the time was fellow Democrat Phil Murphy.
“It is unacceptable that a vendor would release software with such an obvious error,” Sherrill said. “It’s unacceptable that it took the[Motor Vehicle Commission]a year to resolve this issue, and it’s unacceptable that no one in the previous administration brought this issue to light, demanded accountability, or took action when it arose years ago.”
