Article Summary Illinois officials say registration and voting by noncitizens is extremely rare. As the U.S. Department of Justice threatens to prosecute state officials who fail to keep noncitizens off their voter rolls, New Jersey officials acknowledged a software glitch that inadvertently allowed about 6,600 noncitizens to register and fewer than 400 to vote. Illinois experienced a similar glitch in 2019, which allowed 545 noncitizens to register and 15 to cast ballots, but officials say that issue was quickly resolved. The primary duty of maintaining voter registration lists in Illinois rests with local election authorities, not the state. This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story. SPRINGFIELD – Illinois election officials said this week they believe the state’s voter registration are accurate and up to date and that safeguards are in place to prevent non-U.S. citizens from inadvertently becoming registered to vote. Since 1982, Illinois State Board of Elections spokesperson Matt Dietrich said, only 10 noncitizens have been found to have voted in an Illinois election. “That's 10 cases in 44 years.” Dietrich told Capitol News Illinois, referring to information published by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative-leaning think tank. “Every two years, you have approximately 5 to 6 million votes being cast. So, you're talking really about hundreds of millions of votes cast, with 10 prosecutions.” The U.S. Department of Justice is currently suing the state board for access to a complete, unredacted copy of the state’s entire voter registration database. That would include sensitive information such as dates of birth, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers of all 8.3 million registered voters in Illinois. The agency says it needs that information to ensure Illinois is complying with federal requirements to regularly scrub the database of people who should not be registered, including people who have died, moved to a different address or people who are found not to be U.S. citizens. Similar lawsuits have been filed in dozens of other states and Washington, D.C. So far, judges in 15 of those cases have ruled against the department, finding it has no legal authority to demand access to states’ sensitive voter data. No judge has yet ruled in DOJ’s favor, although cases in Illinois and several other states are still pending. DOJ has also threatened criminal prosecution of any state election official anywhere in the country if it finds noncitizens have been allowed to register or cast ballots. Citizenship question Under the National Voter Registration Act, also known as the “Motor Voter” law, voters are not required to show proof of U.S. citizenship when they register to vote. Instead, they attest, under penalty of perjury, that they are U.S. citizens when filling out their voter registration applications. “And that attestation also contains language that tells them if they provide false information, they'll be subject to prosecution, deportation, and denial of entry to the country should they ever try to enter again,” Dietrich said. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, several states have passed laws requiring proof of citizenship to register. But courts have generally held that states do not have authority to enact additional requirements for registration in federal elections. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case in its upcoming term that challenges an Arizona law requiring proof of citizenship. Meanwhile, a bill known as the SAVE America Act is pending before Congress.  The Republican-backed bill is supported by President Donald Trump but is currently stalled in the Senate. That bill would require people to show documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote as well as photo identification when casting a ballot. It would also require states to take affirmative steps to identify noncitizens who are registered to vote and to delete those individuals from the voter rolls. For most people, proof of citizenship could include a valid U.S. passport or a certified birth certificate paired with a photo ID. But critics argue it would impose significant burdens on certain individuals including married women or anyone who has ever changed their name, or people who were not born in a hospital and don’t have birth certificates. Automatic registration One way in which noncitizens can inadvertently become registered to vote is through automatic registration when applying for a driver’s license or state identification card. That came to light Tuesday when New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill acknowledged an estimated 6,600 noncitizens were inadvertently registered between June 2023 and June 2024 due to a software glitch at that state’s Motor Vehicle Commission. “Our preliminary analysis shows fewer than 400 individuals who were newly registered for the first time because of the error voted,” S