Nevada election officials said this week that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wrongly identified 185 people on the state's voter rolls as non-citizens. After reviewing the records DHS sent them, officials confirmed all 185 individuals were US citizens, according to an email obtained by the New York Times and Nevada Independent.
Disputed federal claims
In July, Donald Trump said DHS had found a combined 278,000 non-citizens on voter rolls in Nevada, California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Follow-up letters to those states weakened the claim, suggesting there could be as many as 278,000 non-citizens, including up to 15,903 in Nevada.
In August, DHS officials told staffers in the Nevada secretary of state's office they had reviewed the numbers and confirmed only 185 were non-citizens, adding that more than 14,000 records still needed review.
Official response
On Wednesday, Nevada officials said they had reviewed the 185 records and confirmed they were citizens. Greg Ott, a deputy attorney general, wrote to DHS: "As for the 185 individuals, our records indicate that they were citizens. You have provided nothing of substance to suggest otherwise."
Ott criticized DHS for lacking transparency about its methodology and for not sharing adequate information. When Nevada requested names, addresses and other data points, DHS said it would only provide voter ID numbers.
Data concerns
Ott noted that in Nevada, a voter registration number can belong to multiple people. The state recently transitioned to a single statewide registration system, giving voters new state voter identification numbers. "As a result, the same number may appear at different points in time in connection with different voter records," he wrote.
He added: "The number also doesn't tell us whether an individual was born in the United States, naturalized, derived citizenship through a parent, or holds any particular immigration status. Election records commonly reflect the information supplied during registration."
DHS did not return a request for comment.
Broader context
Votebeat reported earlier this month that Pennsylvania election officials also pushed DHS for information on its claim of up to 14,576 non-citizens on its rolls. In an August letter, Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania's top election official, said DHS representatives had indicated they did not have "high confidence" in that number.
