On Tuesday, New Jersey Democratic Governor Mikie Sherrill made the bombshell announcement that in her state, a “software error” had mistakenly registered over 6,000 non-citizens to vote. Of that number, about 400 actually voted. The headline was shocking but not surprising. While this report may seem like the perfect reason to pass the SAVE Act, MS NOW’s Jonathan Lemire and Ali Vitali denied the legislation’s necessity on Wednesday's episode of Morning Joe.
“This is the best headline President Trump has gotten in months,” Lemire lamented. “He and Republicans have been, without evidence, claiming voter fraud in 2020. They're claiming it happens again now, routinely.”
To anyone who doesn’t automatically assume Trump is wrong about everything just because he’s Trump, the New Jersey report provides a strong piece of evidence for voter fraud. No one can deny that those 400 non-citizens who voted in New Jersey did not commit voter fraud. Yet, Lemire said that Trump would use the report as an “excuse” to push more election security measures.
“It's a tough headline,” Vitali said, “but no one is agreeing that it's okay that this happened. No one is saying that it's fine, that 400 people who shouldn't be voting voted in these elections.”
If that’s true, and we have identifying information about who exactly these people are, can we expect prosecutions from Sherrill’s pro-migrant administration? The question hasn’t yet been asked or answered, but given the Democrats’ other immigrant-related positions, it doesn’t seem likely.
“But I think that doesn't absolve them of the implications of what passing the SAVE Act would do. . . it doesn't solve for the problem that it would make it more difficult for women who got married and changed their last names to be able to register to vote,” Vitali continued.
We’ve heard this lie over and over from Democrats, ever since the SAVE Act was introduced. The bill would not make it more difficult for married women to vote. Ever since the 19th Amendment was passed, married women have managed to change their surnames and vote, and the SAVE Act would do nothing to change that.
What it would do, however, is require photo I.D., which would prevent non-citizens like the 400 in New Jersey, from voting illegally.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
MS NOW's Morning Joe
7/22/26
7:52:23 a.m. EasternJONATHAN LEMIRE: Meanwhile, New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill says that more than 6,000 noncitizens were mistakenly registered to vote in that state between 2023 and 2024 due to a software error. Sherrill says the serious malfunction occurred during the administration of her predecessor, Phil Murphy, a fellow Democrat, after applicants for state ID cards and driver's licenses at the state Motor Vehicles Commission were registered to vote, despite correctly indicating that they were not U.S. citizens. Governor Sherrill said that fewer than 400 of those people actually cast their ballots, and a preliminary review found that they were registered as Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters. Sort of a real mix.
The state's assistant attorney general, who oversees the Justice Department's civil rights division, announced that the DOJ is investigating this, quote, "unlawful dilution of American votes"
And, Ali Vitali, when this story broke yesterday, I said to a couple people with me, 'this is the best headline President Trump has gotten in months.'
He and Republicans have been without evidence claiming voter fraud in 2020. They're claiming it happens again now, routinely.
This, you know, certainly seems to be a relatively small matter. We just went through it.
But if you're explaining you're losing and you could see it - Trump's already been on truth social this morning. He is going to grab this with both hands and say, 'look, I was right. There is election fraud. Non-citizens are voting.'
And the question then is he uses that as an excuse for what?
ALI VITALI: An excuse for what? I think the most immediate answer is to push for the SAVE Act on Capitol Hill.
And I don't get the sense that this latest instance, while a bad headline for Democrats who are looking to consistently push back in clear-eyed ways against the attempts that Trump is making to erode confidence in U.S. elections, it's a tough headline for them, but no one is agreeing that it's okay that this happened. No one is saying that it's fine, that 400 people who shouldn't be voting voted in these elections.
But I think that doesn't absolve them of the implications of what passing the SAVE Act would do, which, again, Republicans have even acknowledged, even if they passed it today, they wouldn't be able to enact the changes for November's election.
But even more than that, it doesn't solve for the problem that it would make it more difficult for women who got married and changed their last names to be able to register to vote, right? And there's no one arguing that those women should not be voting.
And so, that's just one of the problems that the SAVE Act has attached to it that is divorced from this latest story out of New Jersey.
And so, I think what Sherrill is doing here is the transparent thing of announcing it, acknowledging that it was a problem, and that they're going to make sure it doesn't happen again.
And at the same time, it is different than the conversation, I think, that the White House is having about broader scope of American elections and the ways that we should and shouldn't have trust in that process.
LEMIRE: Yeah, very, very good point there.
