WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced Thursday night that a Department of Homeland Security review identified hundreds of thousands of potentially ineligible voter-registration records, including nearly 300,000 people believed to be noncitizens and approximately 400,000 people listed as possibly deceased.
During his nationally televised address, Trump said DHS compared state voter-registration records with federal immigration and identity databases as part of the administration’s continuing investigation into election security.
The president said the review identified approximately 278,000 registered voters believed to be noncitizens. Trump described the findings as evidence that stronger citizenship verification is necessary before individuals are permitted to register for federal elections.
“These are not small numbers,” Trump said while calling on Congress and state governments to strengthen voter-identification and citizenship-verification requirements.
The administration’s review reportedly examined only a portion of the nation’s voter records, meaning the figures announced Thursday did not represent a complete review of all 50 states. It also remained unclear how many of the individuals identified by DHS had actually cast ballots in a federal election.
DHS also reported that its database comparisons flagged approximately 384,000 voter records connected to individuals who may be deceased. Those records require additional verification by state election officials before they can be removed because database matches can sometimes involve outdated information, duplicate names or incorrect identity matches.
Being flagged by a federal database does not automatically prove that an individual illegally registered or voted. The DHS system is intended to provide investigative leads to state officials, who remain responsible for reviewing the records and determining whether a voter is eligible.
Trump said the findings demonstrate why election officials must regularly maintain voter rolls and remove registrations belonging to deceased individuals, noncitizens and people who have moved out of state.
Federal law already prohibits noncitizens from voting in elections for president and Congress. States also maintain procedures for removing deceased voters and other ineligible registrations, although the timing and effectiveness of those procedures vary across the country.
The Justice Department recently warned election officials that they could face prosecution if they knowingly permit noncitizens to remain registered or participate in federal elections. The administration has also sought expanded access to state voter rolls as it increases federal oversight of election-security practices ahead of the November midterm elections.
Supporters of the president said the findings confirm longstanding concerns about weaknesses in voter-registration systems. They argue that even one illegal vote cancels the lawful vote of an American citizen and that election safeguards should be established before ballots are cast rather than investigated after an election.
Democratic officials and voting-rights organizations questioned the accuracy of the federal matching system and warned that eligible voters, including naturalized citizens, could be mistakenly flagged. Several state officials have also challenged the administration’s efforts to obtain complete voter-registration databases.
Studies and previous election investigations have generally found that confirmed cases of noncitizen voting are rare. However, Trump and his supporters argue that the absence of a nationwide citizenship-verification system makes it difficult to determine the true number.
The findings are expected to increase pressure on Congress to consider the SAVE America Act, legislation backed by Trump that would require documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections.
For the American people, the question should not be partisan. Only American citizens should decide American elections.
Every eligible citizen must be able to vote, every lawful vote must be counted and every ineligible registration must be investigated and removed through a transparent process that protects both election security and due process.
The DHS findings are now expected to face further examination from state election officials, Congress and the courts. But one thing is certain: Americans deserve answers, accurate voter rolls and an election system they can trust.
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