Mullin Announces Major Steps for Election Security Following China Revelations

In just four states, 250,000 noncitizens are registered to vote, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Friday as he announced new measures to bolster election security.

The four states—California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada—did not cooperate with the Trump administration in its review of voter information, but the Department of Homeland Security obtained the information from publicly available data, Mullin said.

The secretary said that in 23 states that have cooperated with the agency’s SAVE program, which helps determine voter eligibility, data show another 23,000 noncitizens and 400,000 dead people are registered to vote.

He said that states will need to work with DHS on ensuring voter eligibility if they wish to receive federal election grants.

“Every state should partner with us,” Mullin said. “If states want election grants, they should implement these security measures.”

The annoucement follows a primetime address by President Donald Trump about the release of declassified documents showing evidence that China has been meddling in U.S. elections by hacking into voter registration databases and by other means.

“President Trump gave DHS the tools and resources to secure elections,” Mullin said. “But we have to have states partner with us. If they choose not to than voters should hold them accountable.”

The president said the declassified information shows China conducted a massive hacking of voter registration information that yielded access to 220 million U.S. voter files.

Trump said the effort aimed to steal information about thousands of voters, and added that information from 2018 and 2019 shows that Chinese operatives wanted to harm him so he would be forced to resign or be defeated in his reelection bid.

The president further claimed China paid U.S. journalists to write negative stories about him during his first term.

Trump delivered his address as he is pushing Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require photo identification to vote and proof of citizenship to register to vote. The president, as he concluded his remarks, made a passionate plea for Congress to pass the legislation.