Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, a man whose first name already sounds like he was destined for government work, has sent letters to four states demanding they help verify what DHS says could be more than 256,000 noncitizen voter registrations sitting on their rolls. As Trending Politics reported, the letters went to California, New Jersey, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, which is a lineup that reads like a list of states where Democrats would least enjoy receiving federal mail.
The numbers, which DHS describes as preliminary, break down like this: California leads the pack with an estimated 190,832 possible noncitizen registrations, followed by New Jersey at 35,152, Nevada at 15,903, and Pennsylvania at 14,576. DHS says it found tens of thousands of registrants in those states whose names, dates of birth, addresses, and Social Security numbers matched noncitizens in federal records. California alone had 81,336 such matches. That is a lot of coincidences.
Mullin framed the outreach as a team effort, writing, "The most efficient way to ensure the accuracy of our findings is to work collaboratively on identity verification." He also dropped a line that probably belongs on a bumper sticker: "allowing just one non-citizen to vote cancels the vote of one U.S. citizen." The states have until July 24 to respond, which in government time is basically yesterday.
The announcement landed one day after President Trump used a prime time address to push the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register for federal elections and photo ID to vote. Democrats have fought the bill, saying noncitizen voting is extremely rare and accusing Trump of trying to suppress legitimate voters.
California Governor Gavin Newsom fired back on X, writing, "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." The caps lock was doing a lot of heavy lifting there. California's secretary of state has refused to hand over statewide voter registration data to the Justice Department, and Los Angeles County said it had not turned over information either. Nothing says "we have nothing to hide" quite like refusing to share any information.
California Assemblymember Marc Berman took a different angle, suggesting Mullin should investigate his own boss instead. "The only person who has been caught demanding that elections officials make up thousands of votes is President Donald J. Trump, who begged the Georgia Secretary of State to 'find 11,780 votes' to steal the 2020 presidential election," Berman said.
Democrats and election groups have pointed out that suspected noncitizen registrations often turn out to be false positives. Reuters noted that DHS did not publicly provide evidence to corroborate its overall tallies. It is also worth noting that many noncitizens legally hold Social Security numbers, including green card holders and work-authorized immigrants, which could muddy the matching process.
The SAVE America Act remains stalled in the Senate thanks to Democratic opposition and, entertainingly, some Republican resistance over timing. So for now the verification fight will play out state by state, letter by letter, with Mullin asking nicely and four states deciding whether to answer the phone. He still has 46 more states to get to, so this story has legs.
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