The New Jersey governor's announcement that 6,600 noncitizens were being removed from the state's voter roll shows "the absolute necessity of the SAVE America Act," according to a White House spokeswoman.

The White House seized on New Jersey's disclosure Tuesday as fresh evidence that stronger election safeguards are needed, arguing the incident validates President Donald Trump's push for the SAVE America Act and tougher voter verification requirements.

"Democrats and their media allies have repeatedly said it is impossible for noncitizens to register to vote, let alone cast a ballot," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the Washington Examiner.

"Time and again, they have been proven wrong," she continued.

"As President Trump has said, there is nothing more important than the integrity of our elections," Jackson added. "This latest incident underscores the absolute necessity of the SAVE America Act."

Jackson said American voters "deserve to have confidence that our elections are safe and secure" and pledged Trump "will never stop fighting to make that happen."

New Jersey Democrat Gov. Mikie Sherrill on Tuesday announced that approximately 6,600 noncitizens were mistakenly registered to vote because of what she described as a software error in the state Motor Vehicle Commission system between June 2023 and June 2024.

According to Sherrill, the affected individuals specifically answered "no" when asked whether they were U.S. citizens while applying for driver's licenses or identification cards, but the system registered them anyway.

She said the erroneous registrations included Democrats, Republicans, and unaffiliated voters and were spread throughout the state.

The New Jersey Globe reported that fewer than 400 of those individuals ultimately cast ballots before the registrations were identified and removed.

Sherrill said she ordered an investigation immediately after learning of the issue last week and directed officials to remove all affected registrations while replacing the vendor responsible for the faulty system.

The governor said there is no evidence the mistaken registrations changed the outcome of any election but called the breakdown "appalling" and promised accountability.

The announcement came days after Trump revealed that his administration had identified hundreds of thousands of potential noncitizens registered to vote nationwide, including as many as 35,152 in New Jersey.

"Our purpose in disclosing this information is not to weaken confidence in elections, but to earn that confidence by confronting vulnerabilities and correcting them very, very quickly," Trump said during a White House address on election security last week.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin argued New Jersey should have acted much sooner.

"Just ONE illegal vote cancels out the vote of a U.S. citizen," Mullin wrote on X.

"This should've been done a LONG time ago," he added.

The New Jersey disclosure also comes as House Republicans advance a third reconciliation package that would include key provisions of the SAVE America Act, allowing the election integrity legislation to move through the Senate with a simple majority rather than the usual 60-vote threshold.

House Republicans have argued the measure would strengthen voter ID requirements and ensure only U.S. citizens participate in federal elections.