US homeland security chief vows voter fraud crackdown after Trump's renewed claims

The US homeland security secretary on Friday vowed an aggressive crackdown on illegal voting and warned that state election officials could face fines or prison if they disregard federal efforts to identify ineligible voters.

Following claims of foreign influence made by President Donald Trump, including in a primetime Thursday address to the nation, Markwayne Mullin said the Department of Homeland Security had identified 250,000 suspected noncitizens registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada.

He also said cooperation with 23 states through the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements, or SAVE, program had identified 28,000 suspected noncitizens and approximately 400,000 deceased people on voter rolls.

Mullin did not say how many of those individuals had cast ballots. He said the department was establishing a unit to review the records individually, determine whether any had voted, and refer potential violations for prosecution.

“If you're illegal and attempted to vote, or you tried to vote illegally for someone else, we will find you and we will charge you,” he said, adding that illegal registration and voting could carry penalties of up to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.

Mullin said his agency would examine voting records before and after the midterm elections, including publicly available records from states that decline to cooperate.

He also warned election officials that they could face penalties if they failed to act after receiving information about alleged vulnerabilities or ineligible registrations.

“If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections, and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable,” he said, citing possible fines, other penalties and, depending on the circumstances, prison.

Critics say the threats to election officials amount to fearmongering, with local election workers already facing threats to their safety and unfounded claims of poll fraud.

Federal grants tied to states taking steps to 'secure elections'

Mullin said states seeking federal reimbursement and election grants would be required to implement security measures, review their voter rolls, and address vulnerabilities identified by the federal government.

“We are not going to spend taxpayer dollars reimbursing a state that is refusing to secure their elections,” he said.

Mullin also said the US’ Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would release an updated election infrastructure plan within 30 days.

Despite Trump’s repeated insistence that the 2020 presidential election had been “stolen” from him, Mullin insisted the initiative was not intended to change previous election results but to increase public confidence ahead of the midterms.

“We’re not trying to change the outcome,” he said. “We’re trying to make sure that American people can trust our voting system.”

Critics of the Trump administration say that instances of in-person voter fraud pursued by Homeland Security under Trump’s direction are exceedingly rare.

They allege Trump’s voter fraud claims are unfounded and meant to sow confusion and distrust ahead of this fall’s midterm elections, where most polls point to Trump’s Republican Party facing heavy losses.