Markwayne Mullin's DHS has no actual power to arrest or fine any state refusing to hand over voter rolls

[bigtree]

...as he threatened state officials today.

But, DHS does have a large paramilitary force that's effectively under Trump's direct control.

Marc E. Elias @marceelias
🚨BREAKING: Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened top election officials in all 50 states with criminal charges if they do not comply with the Trump administration’s demands to feed their voter rolls through a flawed federal database.

Link to tweet

___Alongside his threats Friday, Mullin claimed that the database in question had identified over 250,000 noncitizens registered to vote in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

At no point during the speech did Mullin specify how DHS obtained those four states’ voter registration data, though many states offer public versions of their rolls for sale or download. He also did not claim that any of the alleged registered noncitizens voted in U.S. elections.

The secretary only said that the department identified the noncitizens using the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE), a database originally designed to help states check the citizenship status of people applying for government benefits. The Trump administration has now retrofitted it into a broader citizenship check, but critics say the new version is deeply defective and regularly misidentifies eligible voters.

Mullin’s threat came a week after the Department of Justice (DOJ) sent all state election chiefs letters warning they could face criminal prosecution over possible noncitizen voting.

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/homeland-security-mullin-threaten-state-election-officials-voter-registration-save/

...judges in 11 states have ruled that DOJ cannot force states to turn over voter rolls.

___Eleven federal courts have ruled this year that the Department of Justice has no right to obtain states’ complete voter registration lists, which contain confidential personal information such as driver’s license numbers. One judge warned the demands are a “risk that threatens the right to vote” and another went so far as to note that the department could not be trusted to be honest about why it wanted the information.

The DOJ has demanded that at least 47 states turn over those lists. The department says that it wants the lists in order to purge voters it thinks don’t belong on the rolls — but in reality, that would prevent large numbers of eligible Americans from voting. The Trump administration could also use the voter data to falsely cast doubt on election results that it doesn’t like.

Most states have refused, though at least 16 have agreed to comply. The DOJ has sued 30 states so far seeking compliance. Federal courts in California, Michigan, Oregon, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Arizona, Maine, Wisconsin, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Hampshire have dismissed the lawsuits, ruling that the requests would trample the states’ constitutional role as the primary administrators of elections. The federal government has never had a national voter file and lacks the legal authority to compile one.

A confidential agreement the DOJ asked states to sign reveals the true purpose behind the demands. It intends to pressure states to remove voters it thinks should be purged from the rolls, but the federal government has no authority and no expertise in maintaining voter lists. The agreement also shows that the DOJ isn’t prepared to protect the information from improper sharing and would even turn it over to private contractors who can use the confidential data however they want.

The federal government’s primary legal claim in these cases is that the Civil Rights Act of 1960 allows the DOJ to vacuum up any election-related records it wants from state and local officials. But that stretches the law too far. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act to empower federal intervention when states were actively blocking people of color from voting.

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/federal-courts-reject-trump-administrations-attempts-obtain-private-voter

___In his confirmation hearing for attorney general Wednesday, Todd Blanche claimed he would “follow the law” on sending armed federal agents to voting sites but pointedly stopped short of pledging not to deploy them...

“Since the Civil War … federal law has made it clear that the president does not have the authority to deploy armed federal officials to election sites. Will you commit to following clear federal law and not deploy federal agents to polling locations?” the senator asked Blanche.

“I will commit to following the law, senator, of course,” Blanche replied.

Klobuchar pressed him further, asking whether following the law includes “not deploying federal agents to polling places?”

“I will absolutely follow the law, no matter whatever it includes, so, yes,” he answered.

When Klobuchar asked whether Blanche understood why eligible voters could be concerned or intimidated by armed federal law enforcement officers at the polls, Blanche did not answer. He instead claimed he was “not aware of armed agents being at polling places.”

“I’m not aware of that concern, but I will tell you we will follow the law,” he said.

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/todd-blanche-federal-agents-voting-sites-confirmation-hearing/



Fearing troops or ICE at the polls, Arizona organizers train hundreds as election observers
LUCHA’s ‘Congreso 2026’ events focused on how neighborhood observers should react if federal agents arrive at voting locations in Latino communities

“The Trump administration is laser-focused on making it harder for regular folk to vote,” LUCHA Executive Director Alejandra Gomez told reporters. “They want chaos, because chaos suppresses turnout.”

That “chaos” is coming in the form of observers from a Department of Justice that has embraced election conspiracy theories and the administration’s firing of key election administration officials ahead of the midterms, Gomez said.

“We are not being dramatic — we are reading the signals,” Gomez added. “We are here because democracy is not protected by hope alone. It is protected by people.”

The event, dubbed “Congreso 2026,” is about “turning concern into action” and empowering communities that are impacted by the Trump administration’s push to seize control of election so they can inform their neighbors of their rights when it comes to voting, according to Gina Mendez, one of the organizers.

https://azmirror.com/2026/07/11/fearing-troops-or-ice-at-the-polls-arizona-organizers-train-hundreds-as-election-observers/

May 12, 2026
President Trump Says He's Willing to Send ICE, National Guard to the Polls in November

Before leaving the White House for his summit in Beijing with Chinese President Xi, President Trump is asked whether he would send Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officers or National Guard members to polling locations during the midterm elections.

watch: