DHS chief defends tougher voter checks in US elections
Washington, June 15
US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has defended the Trump administration's push for stricter voter verification measures ahead of next year's midterm elections, saying only American citizens should be allowed to vote in federal contests and that even isolated instances of illegal voting undermine confidence in the electoral system.
Speaking on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, Mullin said the Department of Homeland Security would support efforts by President Donald Trump to strengthen citizenship verification and improve the accuracy of voter rolls.
"We're going to make sure that our Constitution is upheld, meaning that only citizens of the United States are voting," he added.
"It's the most important thing we can do to protect the integrity of our election."
Mullin said that such measures are necessary to preserve public trust in elections.
"What we want to make sure is that every vote actually counts," he added.
During the interview, CNN host Kasie Hunt cited data showing relatively few prosecutions involving non-citizen voting and questioned whether the issue was widespread enough to justify additional safeguards.
Mullin said the number of cases was beside the point.
"One person voting illegally is one too many," he added.
"We shouldn't have to worry about even one."
The Homeland Security chief also claimed authorities had identified irregularities in voter registration records.
"We see thousands of individuals that are registered to vote that has had mail-out ballots to them that are passed away," he said.
"We see incidences where we're having 20, 30 ballots being mailed to the same address."
When asked whether the administration was attempting to curb mail-in voting, Mullin rejected the suggestion.
"What we're saying is make sure that they're legally able to vote," he said.
Mullin pointed to Oklahoma's voter identification procedures as an example of what he described as a secure electoral system.
"My wife and I voted just actually yesterday," he said.
"We go in and I still have to show my I.D. She has to show her I.D. You know what? Perfect."
The interview also touched on the potential role of federal law enforcement agencies during elections.
Asked whether he would rule out deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel to polling stations, Mullin said ICE officers would not be involved in voter identification or immigration enforcement activities at voting locations.
"What I said is that we would only be there if a threat is arised," he added.
He said ICE personnel could be used in emergency situations involving public safety concerns, such as bomb threats or incidents requiring additional law enforcement support.
"The only reason why we would be there is not for voter identification," Mullin said.
"It'd be because law enforcement is needed."
Voting rights and election security remain politically contentious issues in the United States.
Republicans have generally said that stronger voter identification and citizenship verification measures are needed to protect election integrity, while Democrats contend that voter fraud is rare and warn that additional requirements could create barriers for eligible voters.
--IANS
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— IANS
Reader Comments
"One illegal vote is one too many" — that logic is flawed. Following that, one traffic violation is one too many, so let's ban all cars? 🙄 The issue is proportionality. Voter fraud in US is statistically negligible — like finding a needle in a haystack. Meanwhile, these "reforms" disproportionately affect minorities, elderly, and poor people who may not have easy access to ID. As someone whose grandparents in rural India struggle with voter ID issues, I can tell you — making it harder to vote doesn't improve democracy. It suppresses it.
From an Indian perspective, I actually sympathize with the concern about non-citizens voting. In India, we've had serious issues with illegal immigrants from Bangladesh being added to voter rolls in Assam and West Bengal — it's a genuine threat to democracy. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) was meant to address this, though it created its own humanitarian mess. So I get wanting to verify citizenship. But the US has a much longer-established system, and their illegal immigrant population is smaller proportionally. The real issue is about trust — both sides need to agree on what "secure" means rather than treating every reform as a conspiracy.
The irony is rich — the same people who want tougher voter ID also want to make it harder for people to get IDs. Classic double bind. In India, we have a universal ID system (Aadhaar) that's meant to solve this, but even that's controversial. What the US really needs is automatic voter registration when you get a driver's license or social security — like they do in some states already. That's what India should learn from the US, not the other way around. Let's focus on making voting easier and more secure simultaneously, not using security as an excuse to restrict access.
K Kavya N