More than 30,000 people who identified themselves as non-citizens may have been mistakenly added to voter registration rolls across the United States since 2000, according to a review of state records and election data. The cases have been reported in states controlled by both Republicans and Democrats and appear to have largely resulted from software problems, clerical mistakes and errors involving driver’s license and state identification systems.
The number represents a small share of the more than 170 million registered voters nationwide. Officials and election experts also say the available records do not establish how many of those mistakenly registered individuals actually cast ballots.
Registration Errors Reported Across Multiple States
The cases identified in state records span California, Illinois, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Virginia, among others.
New Jersey recently disclosed one of the larger examples. State officials said a technology problem resulted in roughly 6,600 non-citizens being added to voter rolls between June 2023 and June 2024. The individuals had reportedly indicated that they were not U.S. citizens when applying for driver’s licenses or identification documents.
Similar administrative problems have occurred elsewhere. In California, officials previously reported that as many as 1,500 non-citizens were mistakenly registered because of a Department of Motor Vehicles processing error.
Oregon has also documented cases involving immigrants who presented foreign passports or birth certificates but were nevertheless registered because of clerical mistakes. Some American Samoans were also incorrectly registered after officials failed to distinguish between U.S. nationals and U.S. citizens, a distinction that affects federal voting eligibility.
Iowa and Virginia Highlight Different Problems
Iowa provides an example of how initial figures can change substantially as election officials review voter records.
Ahead of the 2024 election, Iowa officials said more than 2,000 people who had identified themselves as non-citizens had either registered to vote or cast ballots. A subsequent review reduced that figure to 277. State officials said 35 non-citizens ultimately had ballots counted in the 2024 general election, while more than 1.6 million Iowans participated in that election.
Virginia has reported a different pattern. State election reports have identified hundreds of people each year who were listed as foreign nationals on voter rolls. More than 4,500 such records were reported in 2025. State officials have cautioned that these figures can include individuals who subsequently became U.S. citizens or people who were later removed from the voter rolls.
The varying figures demonstrate why raw voter-registration data can change as states verify citizenship information and update their databases.
Debate Over Citizenship Verification
The findings have emerged as Congress considers proposals that would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship for federal voter registration.
Supporters of the proposed SAVE America Act argue that stronger citizenship verification would provide an additional safeguard against ineligible registrations. The legislation would also require photo identification for voting and give federal authorities greater access to state voter-registration information.
Election experts and voting-rights advocates have raised a different concern: many of the cases identified in state records occurred because government agencies failed to process information correctly. They argue that requiring additional documents may not necessarily prevent database or administrative errors.
Federal law already prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections, and federal prosecutors have pursued cases involving unlawful voting. However, available evidence does not establish that mistaken registrations on the scale identified in these state records represent a coordinated nationwide effort.
The records instead point to a complicated problem involving automated voter-registration systems, driver’s license agencies, government databases and the procedures states use to verify eligibility.
