A French citizen who cast an illegal ballot in New Jersey’s 2022 midterm elections says the state’s automatic voter registration system signed him up to vote — without him seeking it out. The man says he didn’t register intentionally; New Jersey enrolled him on its own.
New Jersey uses an automatic voter registration system tied to motor vehicle and other government transactions, which adds eligible residents to the rolls unless they opt out. The French national says that process captured him — a noncitizen with no legal right to vote — and that he wasn’t flagged before casting a ballot in November 2022.
Noncitizen voting is a federal crime. The case raises direct questions about whether the state’s opt-out system has adequate citizenship screening built in before it adds someone to the rolls.
New Jersey officials haven’t publicly addressed this specific case, and it’s unclear whether the man faces federal charges or has already been prosecuted. The state hasn’t said whether it plans to audit automatic registrations for citizenship status.
