Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened to withhold federal funding from four states unless they complied with new election security mandates.
In a press conference Friday morning, one day after President Donald Trump asserted there were election vulnerabilities in the United States during a nationwide address, Mullin said his department identified 250,000 noncitizens on voter rolls in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada, the sole Republican-led state of the four.
“We are going to make our security enhancements mandatory, meaning that if these states want a grant and they want to be reimbursed to work or to run federal elections, they're going to have to implement security issues,” Mullin said.
Mullin said the states would have to comply with the department’s “SAVE program,” which would consist of scrubbing voter registration lists to ensure those voting are U.S. citizens.
It’s unclear how DHS obtained the data or whether those individuals actually voted. There is no concrete evidence that large numbers of noncitizen voters in the last presidential election, according to a review from the Center for Election Innovation & Research.
Only U.S. citizens are permitted to vote in federal elections.
Mullin further escalated concerns with election security by insisting foreign actors could hack into voting systems, change people’s votes and change their voter registration – however, there is no evidence from past election analyses to suggest that has happened in U.S. elections
“We know it’s possible. There’s not a question. It’s not even for debate. One thing I love about numbers and I love about facts, is they don’t lie,” Mullin said, despite there being no evidence that a foreign actor has changed election results in the U.S.
Mullin also raised concerns about deceased voters casting ballots, another election fraud claim the president has also bolstered, despite election experts maintaining that such type of voting is extremely rare and would not impact the outcome of an election.
When asked how many noncitizens or deceased people voted in the last election, Mullin was not able to say.
He indicated the department is trying to determine that now.
Yet, the Homeland Security secretary reiterated the need for strict voter ID laws, saying that not even a Real ID would be sufficient to prove voter eligibility.
“We’re not trying to change the outcome; we’re trying to make sure that American people can trust our voting system,” Mullin said.
Under the SAVE program, states can verify the citizenship of voters on their rolls with a data system that combines information from the Social Security Administration, Homeland Security and the State Department.
However, a federal judge recently stopped DHS from implementing some of its program because it violated privacy rights.
In response to Mullin’s allegations, California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press office said in a statement, “California law is clear: You MUST be a U.S. citizen to vote state and federal elections. Voter fraud is EXTREMELY RARE — and almost always committed by U.S. citizens. Donald Trump’s Administration has repeatedly pushed false and misleading claims about elections. They have provided NO evidence to support these new ‘claims.’”
Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State Al Schmidt said in a statement that the state follows all federal laws when it comes to elections and that its voter rolls were properly maintained an dupdated.
“In Pennsylvania, every voter must take steps to verify their identity before they cast a ballot, including providing proper identification every time they register to vote, vote by mail, or vote at a new polling place. All evidence has shown that noncitizen voting is extremely rare across the country, including in Pennsylvania,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt said Pennsylvania would review any information provided by DHS to evaluate the validity of the claims without sharing Pennsylvanians' private information.
Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar said in a statement that “on its face, we refute these claims” and called the numbers cited by Mullin “wildly speculative at best.”
“The Department of Homeland Security hasn’t shared anything that backs it up. The Trump Administration has persistently asked us for information regarding our voter data and made demands without answering basic questions – we have provided them with detailed information repeatedly on how Nevada maintains its list of eligible voters,” Aguilar said.
He added that Nevada has multiple safeguards in place to prevent noncitizens or ineligible people from voting.
”The Administration lacks a fundamental understanding of how elections work. They just want to cause chaos and doubt ahead of the midterms. We've proven time and time again that Nevada runs some of the safest, most secure and accessible elections in the country, and local election officials will continue working tirelessly to ensure a smooth election this fall,” Aguilar added.
The Independent has asked the New Jersey Division of Elections for comment.
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