DHS Secretary Threatens Penalties for Election Officials Who Decline Federal Assistance

On July 17, 2026, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin warned that state and local election officials who refuse to cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on “election security measures” could face “fines, penalties, and even… prison time.” Speaking to reporters in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Mullin said the federal government would make non-participating states a priority for scrutiny of voter rolls. The remarks came as the 2026 midterm elections approach and followed President Donald Trump’s Thursday speech alleging widespread “hacking, manipulation and corruption” in U.S. elections.

MEAWWNew York Times

Trump’s address revived long-discredited assertions that voting machines are vulnerable to foreign hacking and that hundreds of thousands of non-citizens appear on voter rolls in multiple states. Mullin echoed these points, citing a “preliminary review” that suggested as many as 250,000 non-citizens might be registered nationwide and claiming roughly 400,000 deceased individuals remain on rolls. No evidence of actual vote-changing breaches has been presented, and the intelligence community has previously concluded such manipulation has never occurred.

MEAWW

DHS officials said they have sent letters to four states requesting cooperation on voter-list verification. Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt rejected DHS access to the state’s voter rolls, stating that “all evidence has shown that noncitizen voting is extremely rare across the country, including in Pennsylvania.” Schmidt emphasized that each voter must verify identity before casting a ballot and that the state will review any DHS information without sharing private data.

MEAWWNew York Times

Cybersecurity experts and election administrators have described Mullin’s hacking scenario as “extremely unlikely,” noting that voting equipment is generally offline and would require physical access to be altered. State officials in at least two states have affirmed that their voter rolls are properly maintained. Courts have repeatedly blocked federal attempts to obtain state voter files, a trend Mullin dismissed as the work of “activist judges.”

MEAWW

• “When we start talking about can we ensure that the midterm elections are going to be secure? Yes, we absolutely can build confidence in the American people, but the states have to do their part,” — Markwayne Mullin, DHS Secretary

MEAWW

• “I will tell you, if the states choose not to participate, we will make sure that we make those states a priority to look at who voted in their states and hold the election officials accountable,” — Markwayne Mullin

MEAWW

• “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 by fines, by penalties, and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time,” — Markwayne Mullin

MEAWW

• “All evidence has shown that noncitizen voting is extremely rare across the country, including in Pennsylvania.” — Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania Secretary of State

MEAWW