U.S. voter rolls contain tens of thousands of non-citizen registrations

A federal review has identified tens of thousands of non-citizens mistakenly registered to vote across various U.S. states since 2000. Reports indicate that approximately 30,000 non-citizens were added to voter rolls, largely due to administrative errors, software glitches, and automatic registration systems linked to state driver’s license applications.

Specific findings include over 35,000 non-citizens potentially registered in California and more than 10,000 in New York. In New Jersey, officials acknowledged 6,600 non-citizens on voter rolls, with roughly 400 having illegally cast ballots between June 2023 and June 2024. The Department of Homeland Security is currently conducting an “Unlawful Voter Initiative,” obtaining registration data from at least 47 states.

While the Trump administration and some media outlets have characterized these findings as evidence of widespread fraud, experts noted in a Reuters report that the numbers are “too small … to impact elections” when compared to the nation’s 170 million registered voters. The data suggests that these instances are primarily the result of inadvertent bureaucratic failures rather than organized efforts to register immigrants illegally.