Cortez Masto, Peters, Padilla, Durbin, Schumer Demand Secretary Mullin Halt 2026 Election Interference Efforts

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) joined U.S. Senators Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) in demanding Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin halt the Department’s efforts to assert federal control over and undermine trust in the midterm elections. “We write to warn you against continued activities at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that seek to undermine the Constitutional authority of both Congress and states to administer elections and defy the directions of federal courts. As Secretary of Homeland Security, you have promoted the President’s conspiracy theories about our elections, pressured states to participate in illegal activities, and explicitly threatened to reduce grant funding and initiate criminal investigations for those states that do not comply with the Administration’s demands,” the Senators began. In their letter, the Senators raised concerns about Mullin’s unsupported claim that 250,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in four states. His claims about noncitizen voting have already been disproven in Nevada. They also criticized DHS efforts to pressure states to provide sensitive voter roll information to be run through the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, despite the Administration’s acknowledgment of problems with the underlying data. The Senators objected to new election-related conditions on FEMA’s Homeland Security Grant Program, which have been retroactively applied to previously awarded Fiscal Year 2025 funding and are threatening Fiscal Year 2026 funding. By threatening to withhold funding that communities rely on to prevent acts of terrorism and other threats, Mullin is putting Americans’ safety at risk as political leverage. The Senators also highlighted allegations from a federal whistleblower about an effort referred to as the “Unlawful Voter Initiative.” According to the whistleblower, USCIS personnel were allegedly directed to use sensitive, personally identifiable information and improperly access state voter registration websites to find alleged non-citizen voters. “According to the whistleblower, USCIS staff were given a list of names and told to use sensitive personally identifiable information to impersonate voters and access state voter registration websites to verify individuals’ immigration and voter registration statuses. Equipped with incomplete and unverifiable data compiled with ‘supplemental magic,’ USCIS staff are allegedly being directed to create law enforcement records on individuals, including U.S. citizens, for possible referral to HSI for further investigation,” the Senators wrote. “If true, this is just another alarming effort by the Department to use data that USCIS materials admit may be inaccurate, coupled with questionable means to potentially disenfranchise voters.” The Senators called on Mullin to immediately provide all information substantiating his July 17, 2026 allegations regarding noncitizens who registered to vote, rescind FEMA Information Bulletin Nos. 569 and 569(a) and release all withheld funds to states without further delay; and provide information about the “Unlawful Voter Initiative” and immediately cease its activities. “The 2026 midterm elections are already underway. Your unsubstantiated allegations of noncitizen voter fraud, public recitation of unreliable data, and unwarranted conditioning of continued grant funding for state election security measures on compliance with politically motivated requests for voter data appear to be calculated efforts to undermine confidence in our elections and risks wrongly disenfranchising voters,” the Senators concluded. The full text of the letter is available here . Senator Cortez Masto has consistently stood up to President Trump’s illegal attempts to take away Americans’ voting rights. When President Trump signed an executive order mandating that states share their voter lists with the federal government and redesign election mail, she introduced legislation and filed an amicus brief to block it and urged USPS not to implement the order. Cortez Masto helped Democrats defeat the SAVE America Act and called attention to the impact it and other so-called “election integrity” measures by the Trump Administration would have on voting access for Tribal communities. ###