'Software error' led to around 400 noncitizens voting in New Jersey, Gov. Sherrill says 55%

By Molly McVety45%

7/21/2026, 7:56:41 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 18 faulty reasoning types, including Self-Serving Bias, Negativity Bias, and Halo Effect, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 27.5% saturation with 100 hits. Analysis detected 522 faulty-reasoning hits from 363 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 53% and a BS Rank of 55% (9,341 of 20,442 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 54.30% of the article peer group.

Hundreds of New Jersey residents who are not U.S. citizens voted in previous elections after a "serious software error" in the state’s Motor Vehicle Commission, Gov. 
Mikie Sherrill said Tuesday. 
Between June 2023 and June 2024, roughly 6,600 people applying for driver's licenses or identification cards were registered to vote despite answering "no" when asked if they were a U.S. citizen. 
Sherrill (D), who assumed office in January, said that she learned about the defect last week and ordered her chief counsel to launch an investigation into the matter. 
Preliminary analyses found that fewer than 400 of the erroneously registered people voted. 
During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Sherrill called the situation "unacceptable," criticizing the administration of former Gov. 
Phil Murphy, a fellow Democrat, for not taking action previously. 
"I want to underscore how seriously I take this matter," Sherrill said. 
"... 
I am appalled by the reckless failures that allowed this to happen and the lack of transparency shown by those in charge at the time. 
This failure didn't occur under my watch, but accountability starts now. 
I am taking action to prevent anything like it from occurring in the future and make sure those responsible are held accountable." 
Letters will begin being sent to the people affected notifying them of the error and that they will be removed from the state’s voter rolls. 
Preliminary findings do not suggest that the votes significantly swayed any elections since June 2023, according to state officials. 
The residents were registered as Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters and were scattered across the state. 
The illegitimate votes could have occurred at any point since the time they were registered, Sherrill said, and the timing will be subject to the state’s investigation. 
French security company IDEMIA was identified as the vendor responsible for registering voters for the MVC. 
"New Jerseyans should have confidence that every eligible citizen can vote, every lawful vote will be counted and every reasonable step will be taken to protect the integrity of our elections," Sherrill said. 
"That's my responsibility, and it's one I will never stop fighting to uphold." 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 8.8%Molly McVety: 3.4%PhillyVoice: 2.9%Confirmation Bias8.8%This article: 7.4%Molly McVety: 1.0%PhillyVoice: 1.1%Anchoring Bias7.4%This article: 8.5%Molly McVety: 2.5%PhillyVoice: 3.1%Availability Heuristic8.5%This article: 4.4%Molly McVety: 1.2%PhillyVoice: 1.4%Representativeness Heuristic4.4%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 4.4%Molly McVety: 2.3%PhillyVoice: 1.7%Overconfidence Bias4.4%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 13.5%PhillyVoice: 4.2%Framing Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.8%PhillyVoice: 0.5%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.5%PhillyVoice: 0.3%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.3%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 6.1%Molly McVety: 1.9%PhillyVoice: 4.9%Optimism Bias6.1%This article: 6.9%Molly McVety: 1.2%PhillyVoice: 1.4%Pessimism Bias6.9%This article: 11.3%Molly McVety: 8.5%PhillyVoice: 6.3%Negativity Bias11.3%This article: 14.3%Molly McVety: 1.5%PhillyVoice: 1.2%Self-Serving Bias14.3%This article: 7.2%Molly McVety: 1.2%PhillyVoice: 0.6%Fundamental Attribution Error7.2%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.3%PhillyVoice: 0.1%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 2.8%Molly McVety: 0.8%PhillyVoice: 0.4%In-Group Bias2.8%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.6%PhillyVoice: 0.1%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 9.1%Molly McVety: 2.1%PhillyVoice: 3.3%Halo Effect9.1%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 1.0%PhillyVoice: 1.7%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.2%PhillyVoice: 0.4%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 2.8%Molly McVety: 1.2%PhillyVoice: 0.2%Ad Hominem2.8%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.7%PhillyVoice: 0.1%Straw Man0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 5.7%PhillyVoice: 3.2%Appeal to Authority0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 1.6%PhillyVoice: 1.1%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.3%PhillyVoice: 0.4%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.0%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 8.5%Molly McVety: 5.8%PhillyVoice: 4.0%Hasty Generalization8.5%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.7%PhillyVoice: 0.5%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.4%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 27.5%Molly McVety: 8.7%PhillyVoice: 3.5%Appeal to Emotion27.5%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 2.2%PhillyVoice: 0.4%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 1.7%PhillyVoice: 2.0%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.0%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 1.0%PhillyVoice: 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.2%PhillyVoice: 0.3%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.3%PhillyVoice: 1.8%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 7.4%Molly McVety: 2.6%PhillyVoice: 1.4%Ambiguity (Equivocation)7.4%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.0%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 6.1%Molly McVety: 0.4%PhillyVoice: 0.1%Special Pleading6.1%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.0%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.3%Molly McVety: 2.0%PhillyVoice: 1.0%Unattributed Quote0.3%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 1.6%PhillyVoice: 0.8%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 1.5%PhillyVoice: 3.8%Biased Writer Voice0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 4.7%PhillyVoice: 1.9%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.0%PhillyVoice: 0.3%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.4%PhillyVoice: 0.0%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Molly McVety: 0.6%PhillyVoice: 2.8%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

363 words analyzed.

Speakers

1speaker56%attributed speech160writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 2 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 26 words • 0.0% coverageMikie Sherrill • 4 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 31 words • 0.0% coverageMikie Sherrill • 28 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 0.0% coverageMikie Sherrill • 17 words • 0.0% coverageMikie Sherrill • 10 words • 0.0% coverageMikie Sherrill • 12 words • 0.0% coverageMikie Sherrill • 1 words • 100.0% coverageMikie Sherrill • 25 words • 0.0% coverageMikie Sherrill • 11 words • 0.0% coverageMikie Sherrill • 22 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageMikie Sherrill • 27 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageMikie Sherrill • 33 words • 0.0% coverageMikie Sherrill • 13 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Mikie Sherrill

98%flagged-word coverage
203 attributed words100% of attributed speech83% writer coverage
0%2.5%5.0%Unattributed Quote+0.5 ptsWriter: 0.0%Mikie Sherrill: 0.5%0.5%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.