Pennsylvania\u2019s top election official, a Republican, rebuffed the Trump administration\u2019s claim that nearly 15,000 noncitizens could be registered to vote in the commonwealth, demanding it explain how that estimate was calculated.<\/p>\n
In a letter<\/a> sent Thursday, Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt (R) asked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin, to show the department\u2019s work. Without that, Schmidt said, he wouldn\u2019t take any steps that might remove eligible voters or compromise the privacy of Pennsylvanians.<\/p>\n \u201cIn order to evaluate the claims in your letter and determine appropriate next steps, please provide a document explaining your methodology, which identifies the data sources you relied on (including all sources of data that connect the personal identifying information of an individual with their Pennsylvania voter record), the date you obtained any Pennsylvania voter registration records, and any other relevant information you utilized to reach your conclusions,\u201d Schmidt wrote.\u00a0<\/p>\n After President Donald Trump reaired<\/a> debunked grievances over the 2020 election in a prime time national address earlier this month, DHS notified Pennsylvania that a \u201cpreliminary review\u201d of publicly available registration records identified 14,576 potential noncitizens on the voter rolls.\u00a0<\/p>\n But, as Schdmit wrote in response, \u201c[n]otably, DHS has not identified its methodology or what data it relied on in reaching this conclusion.\u201d Schmidt then highlighted the reasons why his office might not trust DHS\u2019s arithmetic.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you know, past analyses of voter lists have relied on faulty methodologies that can lead to inaccurate results and false claims about the citizenship status of eligible voters. DHS has previously acknowledged that its SAVE database may not return accurate information about individuals whose citizenship status has not been updated in the records of the Social Security Administration,\u201d Schmidt wrote. \u201cAn audit by SSA\u2019s Office of Inspector General identified numerous errors in those records, and recent reporting has demonstrated that SAVE has mistakenly flagged eligible voters as noncitizens in Texas and Missouri.<\/p>\n \u201cIn fact, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official who oversees SAVE has \u2018acknowledged that the system can\u2019t always find the most current citizenship information for people not born in the U.S.\u2019\u201d he added. \u201cFinally, as you are aware, a federal judge has recently concluded that the establishment of the modified SAVE system was unlawful in several respects.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n After Trump\u2019s speech, Mullin claimed<\/a> that DHS identified 250,000 noncitizens registered across Pennsylvania, Nevada, California, and New Jersey. But he didn\u2019t explain how DHS derived that total or allege that any of the people flagged had actually voted. However, Mullin did threaten<\/a> states that refused to cooperate with the administration\u2019s voter roll campaign<\/a>, suggesting<\/a> election officials could face fines, penalties or even prison if noncitizens cast ballots in upcoming elections.\u00a0<\/p>\n