‘Serious doubts about the reliability of your data’: California bluntly challenges DHS over sweeping noncitizen voter claims

California’s top election official demanded the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) explain how it concluded that thousands of noncitizens may be registered to vote in the state, bluntly questioning both the department’s results and how it obtained California voter data.

“I have serious doubts about the reliability of your data and accuracy of your claims,” Secretary of State Shirley Weber (D) wrote in a letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin last week, obtained by Democracy Docket. “Your letter provides no detail whatsoever that my office can use to evaluate the veracity of your allegations.”

Mullin recently claimed that a review of voter records identified large numbers of potential noncitizens registered across California, Nevada, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He later said the total across the four states reached 250,000, but the department has not publicly disclosed its methodology or alleged that the people it flagged actually voted.

Weber said California has not provided its statewide voter registration list to DHS or any other federal agency. State law prohibits the disclosure of sensitive voter information, including Social Security numbers, to the federal government.

That raised an immediate question about the source of DHS’s analysis.

Weber demanded a detailed explanation of every data source, software program and matching criterion the department used, including whether artificial intelligence played any role. She also asked DHS to identify who supplied it with California voter records, when the records were transmitted and how recently they had been updated.

California’s response isn’t the only case of pushback from state election officials targeted by the Trump administration’s noncitizen voter roll allegations. 

Nevada also demanded that DHS identify the individuals it flagged and explain whether it used exact or speculative matching. Pennsylvania similarly asked the department to disclose its methodology and underlying data before the state considered taking action.

Weber further warned DHS that California would comply with the National Voter Registration Act’s prohibition on systematic voter removals within 90 days of a federal election. For the November general election, that “quiet period” begins Aug. 5.

The secretary said California would continue maintaining accurate voter rolls while protecting eligible citizens from being wrongly removed or intimidated.

“As California’s chief elections official, I am committed to making every effort to ensure that no eligible voter is erroneously removed from our State’s voter rolls, and that no eligible voter is deterred from casting a ballot due to intimidation or coercion,” she concluded.