Since 2000, more than 30,000 self-identified non-citizens may have been mistakenly added to voter registration rolls across at least a dozen U.S. states due to software glitches and clerical errors, according to official records reviewed by Reuters. These errors highlight vulnerabilities in voter registration systems in states governed by both Republican and Democratic leadership, though experts say the numbers are too small relative to the nation’s 170 million registered voters to have a significant effect on election outcomes.
The issues stem primarily from errors made during the processing of driver’s license and state identification applications, rather than from coordinated efforts to register non-citizens illegally. Among the states affected are California, Illinois, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Virginia.
New Jersey recently reported a significant case after a technology malfunction added approximately 6,600 non-citizens to its voter rolls between June 2023 and June 2024, despite applicants having sworn that they were not citizens when applying for driver’s licenses or IDs. Similar errors have been documented in other states, including traditionally Republican ones like Iowa, Texas, and South Dakota.
Data compiled by the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR) and verified through state officials, court records, and media reports underscores that these non-citizen registrations were largely unintentional. For example, in Iowa, an initial report that over 2,000 self-identified non-citizens had registered to vote was later revised downward to 277. State officials noted that 35 non-citizens cast ballots in Iowa’s 2024 general election, out of more than 1.6 million total votes cast.
Supporters of stricter voter identification laws, including President Donald Trump and his allies, have argued that non-citizen voting is widespread and part of an orchestrated effort by Democrats to influence elections. They advocate for legislation such as the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of U.S. citizenship to register and photo identification to vote. However, CEIR executive director David Becker contends that such measures would not resolve the underlying administrative failures that result in erroneous registrations.
Critics of the proposed legislation warn that it could disenfranchise millions of eligible voters, particularly low-income individuals and racial minorities who may face challenges obtaining the required documentation. Governance expert Elaine Kamarck noted there is no evidence of widespread non-citizen voting in U.S. elections.
Some individual cases illustrate the scope of the problem. In California, a processing error led to approximately 1,500 non-citizens being erroneously registered to vote by the Department of Motor Vehicles. In Oregon, clerical mistakes involving foreign passports and birth certificates caused hundreds of immigrants to be registered unintentionally. Officials also acknowledged registering American Samoans who presented U.S. passports but are nationals rather than citizens and thus ineligible to vote.
Virginia has reported annually since 2014 that hundreds of self-identified non-citizens appear on voter rolls, with more than 4,500 cases in 2023 alone. State officials indicated that some of these individuals later obtained citizenship or were removed from the rolls.
Experts such as Don Palmer of the conservative Heritage Foundation have called for states to address these administrative errors without politicizing the issue. “There’s an obligation to fix the problem. So, take the politics out, and fix the problem,” Palmer said.
All 50 states permit legal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, and 19 states plus the District of Columbia also issue licenses to undocumented immigrants, further complicating verification efforts at the state level. Federal prosecutors have brought relatively few cases under the statute criminalizing voting by non-citizens, with no evidence of coordinated attempts to influence elections identified.