US homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin has pledged to crack down on voter fraud after Donald Trump sought to throw doubt on poll security ahead of critical elections later this year. The close Republican ally of the president issued a stark warning to anyone seeking to cast a ballot illegally that “we will hunt you down, we will find you, and we will charge you”.
Mullin Directs States to Check Electoral Rolls
Mr Mullin has also written to four states directing them to check their electoral rolls for people who are not US citizens and so barred from voting in federal and state polls. He claimed a review carried out by his department had identified more than 250,000 non-citizens registered to vote in California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Nevada.
Mr Mullin wrote on X: “We’ve put these governors on notice. States must work with us to ensure free, fair, and honest elections.”
Threats of Fines, Penalties, and Prison Time
At a news conference in Washington, Mr Mullin said: “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.”
But in a sign of the political battles to come, California’s Democrat governor Gavin Newsom, responding on X, said: “California has free, fair, and secure elections and we will fight for them. Try us.”
Call for the Save America Act
Mr Mullin also echoed the call made by Mr Trump for Congress to approve the stalled Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or Save America Act. This would require photo ID to vote and proof of US citizenship to register, while forcing states to share voter registration information with the federal government. It would also introduce new rules for people wanting a postal vote.
Supporters argue the legislation would improve electoral integrity, while opponents warn the documentation requirements risked denying millions of eligible Americans the vote.
Trump’s Renewed Election Complaints
Mr Mullin’s intervention after Mr Trump renewed his complaints over the conduct of elections and questioning their outcome when he or his party does not win. In a primetime address to the nation on Thursday, the president claimed there had been “sinister” meddling by China and a “deep state” cover-up in the 2020 White House race, which he lost to Joe Biden and has continued to argue was stolen from him.
He also alleged intelligence documents revealed “shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure”. However, critics have accused the president of trying to sow confusion and spread misinformation, paving the way for him to challenge the results of November’s mid-term elections, which could see his Republican party lose control of one or both houses of Congress.
A previous intelligence assessment found no evidence that foreign interference had impacted the outcome of the 2020 election, while dozens of court cases failed to turn up proof of widespread fraud. Mr Trump did not raise doubts about his election wins in 2016 or 2024.
