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Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has hreatened to withhold federal election-related funding from states that refuse to cooperate with the Trump administration’s voter roll investigations ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, while also warning that election officials could face fines or even criminal penalties.
Speaking to reporters, Mullin said states that receive federal reimbursements to administer elections must work with the Department of Homeland Security to review voter registration lists and strengthen election security.
“If states want the grant funding, they must secure the election,” Mullin said.
The secretary did not identify which federal grants or funding streams could be affected, though DHS has previously warned states that certain election-related security grants could be withheld if they failed to comply with federal election security requirements.
The announcement follows President Donald Trump’s televised address Thursday night, during which he announced the declassification of documents that he claims reveal vulnerabilities in U.S. election systems and foreign interference efforts.
During Friday’s briefing, Mullin repeated assertions that U.S. voting systems remain vulnerable to foreign actors, alleging that America’s adversaries possess the “key to the back” of voting machines and could manipulate voter registration databases or alter votes already cast.
However, Mullin presented no evidence that such manipulation has occurred, nor did he explain how such attacks would be carried out.
The secretary also renewed the administration’s focus on noncitizen voting, arguing that voter rolls contain individuals who are not eligible to vote.
DHS released a report claiming more than 250,000 noncitizens appear on voter registration rolls across California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada.
Mullin declined to explain how the department calculated that figure, saying only that the information came from publicly available voter registration records.
The Justice Department has previously sought access to voter registration data from numerous states, filing lawsuits against jurisdictions that refused to provide records. Courts have dismissed many of those cases, ruling that the federal government failed to demonstrate sufficient legal justification for obtaining the information.
Mullin acknowledged that states resisting cooperation would be more difficult to investigate but said DHS would continue reviewing voter rolls nationwide.
“We will scrub all election records, looking for illegal aliens and those who are ineligible to vote, including those that somehow voted, yet they were deceased,” Mullin said.
He warned that individuals who illegally register or vote could face up to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 under federal law.
“If you’re illegal and attempted to vote, or you tried to vote illegally for someone else, we will find you, and we will charge you,” Mullin said.
The secretary also suggested election officials themselves could face legal consequences if they fail to act after receiving information from DHS.
“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,” he said.
Mullin added that DHS intends to monitor both early voting and ballots cast after Election Day during this November’s midterm elections as part of its broader election integrity efforts.
