Federal Officials Use Databases and Funding to Enforce State Citizenship Data Requirements

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on July 17 threatened state election officials with possible prison time if they do not run voter rolls through a federal DHS database to identify noncitizens. Mullin said DHS had preliminarily found more than 250,000 noncitizens on voting lists in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

He said states that refuse to use the database will lose access to federal grants and that officials who receive information from DHS and do not act could face fines, penalties or prison time.

A federal judge has blocked use of the database for voter-roll checks, ruling that repurposing it violated rules on disclosure of Social Security records. Mullin said DHS found the noncitizens through public voter rolls and that illegal voter registration and voting carry penalties of up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines.

Mullin said states that cooperate with the administration on voter rolls can receive additional federal money.

He added that DHS will review election records both before and after the November midterms for ineligible votes from noncitizens and the dead. Mullin sent letters to state secretaries of state requiring a response within two weeks committing to collaboration.

He said DHS will release an updated election infrastructure plan within 30 days and that its cybersecurity agency will issue guidance later in the summer, conditioning future grants on security fixes.

President Trump gave a primetime speech on elections on July 16 and announced the declassification of documents on election vulnerabilities. A declassified U.S. intelligence analysis posted that day reported that Venezuela’s former Maduro regime sought to develop the capability to adjust vote counts on voting machines.

Mullin was sworn in as DHS secretary on March 24. The Department of Justice has sued more than two dozen states for voter file data, but courts have dismissed those lawsuits.