Pennsylvania calls for DHS to substantiate sweeping noncitizen voter roll claims

Pennsylvania’s top election official, a Republican, rebuffed the Trump administration’s claim that nearly 15,000 noncitizens could be registered to vote in the commonwealth, demanding it explain how that estimate was calculated.

In a letter sent Thursday, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt (R) asked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin, to show the department’s work. Without that, Schmidt said, he wouldn’t take any steps that might remove eligible voters or compromise the privacy of Pennsylvanians.

“In order to evaluate the claims in your letter and determine appropriate next steps, please provide a document explaining your methodology, which identifies the data sources you relied on (including all sources of data that connect the personal identifying information of an individual with their Pennsylvania voter record), the date you obtained any Pennsylvania voter registration records, and any other relevant information you utilized to reach your conclusions,” Schmidt wrote. 

After President Donald Trump reaired debunked grievances over the 2020 election in a prime time national address earlier this month, DHS notified Pennsylvania that a “preliminary review” of publicly available registration records identified 14,576 potential noncitizens on the voter rolls. 

But, as Schdmit wrote in response, “[n]otably, DHS has not identified its methodology or what data it relied on in reaching this conclusion.” Schmidt then highlighted the reasons why his office might not trust DHS’s arithmetic.

“As you know, past analyses of voter lists have relied on faulty methodologies that can lead to inaccurate results and false claims about the citizenship status of eligible voters. DHS has previously acknowledged that its SAVE database may not return accurate information about individuals whose citizenship status has not been updated in the records of the Social Security Administration,” Schmidt wrote. “An audit by SSA’s Office of Inspector General identified numerous errors in those records, and recent reporting has demonstrated that SAVE has mistakenly flagged eligible voters as noncitizens in Texas and Missouri.

“In fact, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official who oversees SAVE has ‘acknowledged that the system can’t always find the most current citizenship information for people not born in the U.S.’” he added. “Finally, as you are aware, a federal judge has recently concluded that the establishment of the modified SAVE system was unlawful in several respects.” 

After Trump’s speech, Mullin claimed that DHS identified 250,000 noncitizens registered across Pennsylvania, Nevada, California, and New Jersey. But he didn’t explain how DHS derived that total or allege that any of the people flagged had actually voted. However, Mullin did threaten states that refused to cooperate with the administration’s voter roll campaign, suggesting election officials could face fines, penalties or even prison if noncitizens cast ballots in upcoming elections. 

Nevada’s top election official sent a similar response to DHS earlier this week.