By New York Post (Politics) | Created at 2026-07-18 16:41:58 | Updated at 2026-08-03 10:51:07
2 weeks ago
Federal officials say they identified 190,832 potential non-citizens registered to vote in California, prompting the Department of Homeland Security to warn the state it could lose federal funding unless it cooperates with election security measures.
Election officials in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania were notified Friday by Homeland Secretary Markwayne Mullin that the DHS has identified what it says are more than 250,000 potential non-citizens on the states’ voter rolls.
On top of the nearly 191,000 potential non-citizens registered to vote in California, officials also identified 35,152 in New Jersey, 15,903 in Nevada and 14,576 in Pennsylvania, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Mullin said that requirements under the Trump administration’s SAVE America Act, which is being debated in Congress, will need to be followed in order for states, tribal nations, territories and local governments to receive as much as $1 billion in taxpayer funds.
“We are going to make our security enhancements mandatory, meaning that if these states want a grant and they want to be reimbursed to work or to run federal elections, they’re going to have to implement security issues,” Mullin said.
Requirements would include making sure voting machines are secure and voter rolls are scrubbed of non-citizens, deceased individuals, and others who are ineligible to vote.
“Election security is national security,” Mullin said. “Only Americans should be electing American leaders.”
Mullin sent letters Friday to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, New Jersey Secretary of State Dale Caldwell, Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar and Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt.
Each state was asked to respond within two weeks and indicate whether it will work with DHS to review the registrations and help ensure what the administration described as “free, fair, and honest elections.”
DHS did not release details describing how it identified the potential registrations.
The announcement comes as President Trump gave a national address Thursday casting doubt on election integrity in the country. In the speech, he also accused China of stealing the voter registration data of 220 million Americans.
Weber’s office issued a statement calling Trump’s claims about elections “fallacious” and “unsubstantiated.”
“Despite President Trump’s repeated and thoroughly debunked claims, the 2020 election was free, fair, and secure,” Weber said. “Courts across the country, including judges he appointed, rejected allegations of widespread election fraud.”
Federal law prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections, and documented cases are rare.
DHS said recent actions it has taken on elections include requiring recipients of certain Federal Emergency Management Agency grants to comply with election integrity measures, as well as directing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to pursue stricter penalties — including deportation — for non-citizens who illegally vote.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office fired back at Trump on Thursday, saying the White House “has repeatedly pushed false and misleading claims about elections. They have provided NO evidence to support these new ‘claims.'”
Officials added, “California law is clear: You MUST be a U.S. citizen to vote state and federal elections. Voter fraud is EXTREMELY RARE — and almost always committed by U.S. citizens.”
California law is clear: You MUST be a U.S. citizen to vote state and federal elections.
Voter fraud is EXTREMELY RARE — and almost always committed by U.S. citizens.
Donald Trump’s Administration has repeatedly pushed false and misleading claims about elections. They have… https://t.co/NoEHADNpdS
In a follow-up tweet, the governor’s office questioned where the Trump administration got its data to make its claim about 190,000 non-citizens on California’s voter rolls.
“We have no idea where this latest claim comes from,” officials wrote.
“The Federal Government sued (and lost) to get access to the state’s voter rolls. And if they already had them, why sue in the first place?”
Election officials and voting rights groups have long cautioned that voter list matches can produce false positives because of outdated records, name similarities or errors in underlying databases.
