Election experts doubt DHS claim 250,000 noncitizens registered to vote

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Friday doubled down on President Donald Trump's unsubstantiated election fraud claims, asserting that the agency has identified 250,000 noncitizens registered to vote in four states. But election experts immediately cast doubt on the figure, noting the administration has not been transparent about its methodology.

Experts Question DHS’s 250,000 Noncitizen Claim

Mullin told reporters that DHS had found “250,000 noncitizens registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada.” However, David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, said the administration has not revealed how it arrived at that number. “They haven’t been transparent about the methodology,” Becker said. While Mullin also claimed that 28,000 noncitizens have been identified on voter rolls of more than 20 states that have cooperated with the administration’s Save program, Becker noted that this figure represents just 0.04% of the 68 million eligible voters in those states — a minuscule fraction that suggests no systemic problem. “One thing that I love about numbers, and I love about facts is they don’t lie,” Mullin insisted, despite the lack of evidence for widespread noncitizen voting.

Mullin Repeats Unfounded Claims on Voting Machines, Threatens Funding

Mullin also echoed the president’s baseless conspiracy theories from Thursday’s televised address, particularly that voting machines are unsafe and insecure. Election officials and cybersecurity experts have repeatedly stressed that voting machines are not connected to the internet and undergo rigorous testing before each election to ensure they haven’t been compromised. Mullin nonetheless threatened to withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant funding from states that do not work to “secure” elections. “If they’re not willing to do it, it should raise serious questions. It’s not that hard. This isn’t a partisan issue,” he said. The federal government has previously sought access to state voter rolls, which contain personal data of millions of Americans, but many states have refused, leading to lawsuits the administration has lost.

Truth Social’s Paid Access Plan Raises Concerns

In a separate development, Trump’s media company announced Thursday that it will charge for special high-speed access to Truth Social posts, including possibly those of the president himself. The move would allow Wall Street trading firms and other institutions to get news first from top Truth Social contributors, enabling them to profit from subsequent moves in stocks, bonds, and interest rates. While rival platforms have offered similar paid access, the key difference here is that the most popular Truth Social poster is the president, who, as the largest shareholder of the publicly traded parent company, would benefit directly. This raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest and the impact on national security and financial markets.

As the 2024 election approaches, the administration’s continued promotion of unsubstantiated claims and threats to withhold disaster aid could erode public trust in the electoral process. Meanwhile, the monetization of presidential social media posts introduces unprecedented ethical questions. Election experts and lawmakers across the political spectrum are likely to scrutinize both the DHS’s methodology behind its voter roll claims and the implications of Trump’s financial stake in a platform that could be used to disseminate time-sensitive information.