Full Breakdown
Mullin Calls for Federal Penalties on Election Officials in Non-Participating States
7/18/2026, 4:42:38 AM
Core Proposal
Mullin announced that states refusing to join a federal election-security program will become a priority for federal review. He said officials in those states could face fines, penalties, or even imprisonment if they do not adopt the required safeguards after receiving the necessary information. Access to federal election-grant funding would be conditioned on compliance with the mandated security enhancements.
Context of the Statement
The pledge was delivered hours after former President Donald Trump gave a national address that contained numerous factual inaccuracies about the 2020 presidential election and sought to erode public confidence in future voting processes. Mullin framed his remarks as a response to what he described as a need for “security issues” to be uniformly addressed across all states.
Potential Consequences
Under Mullin’s plan, states that decline participation would be subject to federal scrutiny of voter rolls and voting-machine security. Compliance would be required to receive reimbursements for running federal elections. The approach implies a shift from voluntary cooperation to a conditional grant structure, potentially increasing federal influence over state election administration and raising questions about the balance of power between state and federal authorities.
Verbatim Quotes
- “If the states choose not to participate with the state program, and they choose not to participate in securing the elections, we will make sure that we make those states a priority to look at who voted in their states, and hold them—the election officials—accountable,” — Mullin
- “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.” — Mullin
- “Working with [Commerce] Secretary [Howard] Lutnick, we are going to make our security enhancements mandatory. Meaning that if these states want a grant, and they want to be reimbursed to run federal elections, they are going to have to implement security issues,” — Mullin
- “Just security issues. We’re not trying to get into anything else, but we’re saying that the machines have to be secured and that your voter registration lists need to be scrubbed.” — Mullin
