Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatens states over elections

Key Points:

• Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened state election officials with prison time if they do not use a DHS database to check for noncitizens on voter rolls, claiming over 250,000 noncitizens are registered in four states.
• The DHS database, originally for immigration benefits, has been blocked by a federal judge for use in voter roll verification due to privacy violations and is known to produce errors, often misidentifying naturalized citizens as noncitizens.
• Mullin warned that illegal voter registration and voting carry penalties of up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines, and threatened states with loss of federal grants if they do not comply with federal demands.
• Voting rights experts and election law specialists dispute the claims of widespread noncitizen voting, noting such fraud is rare and the decentralized U.S. election system prevents large-scale manipulation.
• The Trump administration continues to challenge the integrity of U.S. elections, despite multiple reviews finding no widespread fraud, and has taken actions including DOJ lawsuits for voter data and dismissals of election security officials.