A new warning from the Trump administration is raising the stakes in the debate over election security as the country moves closer to the 2026 midterm elections.
Federal officials say states that refuse to work with them on identifying ineligible voters could face serious consequences, including the loss of federal funding and possible criminal penalties.
Advertisement
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced Friday that the Department of Homeland Security is directing states to work with the federal government to identify noncitizens who may appear on voter registration rolls, warning that election officials who refuse to cooperate could face fines, penalties and, in some cases, prison time.
Speaking from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Mullin said DHS has identified more than 250,000 noncitizens on voter registration lists across at least four states: California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania.
Advertisement
Mullin did not say how many, if any, of those individuals actually cast ballots in recent elections.
“We need to make sure that individuals that are legally able to vote are voting,” Mullin said.
Advertisement
“If you’re illegal and attempted to vote, or you tried to vote illegally for someone else, we will find you and we will charge you,” he added.
Mullin said the administration wants states to compare their voter registration rolls against the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, which is maintained by DHS and contains immigration and citizenship records.
According to Mullin, states that decline to participate will not be eligible for certain federal grants.
He also warned that election officials who fail to act after receiving information from the federal government could face legal consequences.
“If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections, and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time,” Mullin said.
Ahead of Friday’s announcement, DHS sent letters to the secretaries of state in the affected states requesting responses within two weeks and asking them to commit to working with the federal government on voter roll reviews.
Mullin also said President Donald Trump has directed DHS to release an updated national election infrastructure security plan within the next 30 days.
The secretary said the administration’s efforts are intended to increase public confidence in elections rather than revisit the outcome of the 2020 presidential race.
“We’re not trying to change the outcome,” Mullin said.
“We’re trying to make sure that American people can trust our voting system.”
The announcement comes as the Trump administration continues making election integrity one of its top policy priorities.
The Justice Department has filed lawsuits seeking voter registration records from several states, while federal officials have warned that knowingly maintaining ineligible voters on registration rolls could violate federal law.
The administration has also promoted the SAVE America Act, legislation that would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.
The administration’s latest initiative, however, faces legal and practical challenges.
A federal judge previously blocked the use of the SAVE database for certain voter registration reviews, ruling that using the system in that manner violated federal restrictions governing the disclosure of Social Security information.
DHS officials have also acknowledged that the database itself does not determine whether someone is an ineligible voter.
Instead, it searches federal immigration and citizenship records and identifies registrations that may require additional review by state election officials, NBC News reported.
Voting rights organizations have argued the system can produce outdated or inaccurate results, particularly involving individuals who recently became naturalized U.S. citizens, and have warned that relying solely on the database could result in eligible voters being incorrectly flagged or removed from voter rolls.
This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
