DHS: Over 250K Noncitizens Are Registered To Vote In 4 States

There are more than 250,000 noncitizens illegally registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada, according to newly released data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

President Donald Trump addressed the nation Thursday night, announcing the release of a tranche of election material, including how China carried out “what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, resulting in China’s illicit acquisition of 220 million U.S. voter files.”

It was also announced that the DHS reviewed public voter files in “states that have not utilized the SAVE system” and found “over 250,000 non-citizens are illegally registered to vote.” The DHS says that “election officials in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada have been notified” and that the department is expanding its investigation into other states as well.

DHS also pointed out states that have been “proactive” and “utilized” the SAVE database, which allows local, state, and federal government agencies to verify an individual’s immigration status. The Trump administration granted states free and direct access to the database. Those states include Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, North Carolina, Idaho, Alabama, Missouri, Louisiana, and Kansas — all of which found both noncitizens and deceased persons on their voter rolls, according to DHS. In those states deceased registrants numbered more than 400,000, and nearly 30,000 noncitizens were illegally registered, according to DHS.

Noncitizens registering to vote and voting in federal elections is already illegal, though there is no real enforcement mechanism. Currently, prospective voters check off a small square box on a federal registration form attesting under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens. In other words, the honor system. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act — which Trump urged Congress to pass in his Thursday night speech — would add teeth to this largely toothless law by requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote.

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Notably, noncitizen voting is not actually “rare” and does happen often. Forty-one noncitizens cast a ballot in North Carolina in 2016. Pennsylvania discovered 11,198 noncitizens on its voter rolls in 2019, according to The Washington Times. A Chinese college student cast an illegal vote in Michigan in 2024 despite being a noncitizen. (His vote was ultimately counted since ballots are secret; once a vote is cast and tabulated, it is impossible to determine who cast the ballot.) A 2024 Georgia audit found 20 noncitizens registered to vote — nearly half of whom cast ballots in past elections, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Oregon’s secretary of state similarly found nine noncitizens who had voted in past elections after discovering “more than 300 noncitizens were erroneously registered to vote,” The Federalist previously reported.

Without the SAVE America Act, the mechanisms available that could be used to check for citizenship status aren’t reliable. The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires states to check information about newly registered voters in federal elections against information stored in the state’s motor vehicle administration database. Individuals can provide either the last four digits of their Social Security number or their driver’s license number. But neither of those documents necessarily confirms citizenship since noncitizens can obtain both driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers. In fact, in California, prospective voters who lack both of those forms of identification can slip through HAVA and instead provide low-security proof of identity — not citizenship — like a gym membership or utility bill to register to vote.