Pennsylvania calls for DHS to substantiate sweeping noncitizen voter roll claims

Key Points:

• Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a Republican, challenged the Trump administration's claim that nearly 15,000 noncitizens are registered to vote in Pennsylvania, demanding a detailed explanation of the methodology used by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
• Schmidt emphasized that without clear data sources and methodology, his office would not take actions that could wrongly remove eligible voters or compromise privacy.
• He criticized the DHS’s use of the SAVE database, noting past errors and inaccuracies in citizenship data, and referenced recent findings that the system can misidentify eligible voters as noncitizens.
• Following President Trump's claims, DHS reported a preliminary finding of 14,576 potential noncitizens on Pennsylvania voter rolls but did not provide supporting methodology, leading to Schmidt's skepticism.
• DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin claimed 250,000 noncitizens were registered to vote across several states but did not clarify how this figure was calculated, while warning of penalties for states that do not cooperate with voter roll investigations.