Trump's Claim of 250K Non-Citizen Voters Questioned by Experts

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has echoed President Trump's assertion that more than a quarter of a million non-citizens are registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada. The administration has yet to release specific details supporting this claim, which emerged following Trump's address on election security. These four states have reportedly not complied with the Trump administration's requests for voter data.

Mullin also stated that an analysis of voter records in 23 states cooperating with the administration identified an additional 28,000 non-citizens registered to vote. However, CBS News reports that the figures, particularly the 250,000 estimate, may be exaggerated. A White House official indicated that the estimate was based on an analysis of commercial databases, a methodology that experts warn can produce numerous false positives and overestimate the number of non-citizens on voter rolls.

David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, cautioned that such data analyses likely include many eligible voters and that states could be breaking the law if they remove voters based on this information. His center has found that allegations of non-citizens voting or registering often stem from misunderstandings or misrepresentations of complex voter data. When scrutinized, the number of alleged instances typically decreases, with confirmed cases of non-citizens voting being exceedingly rare.

“

I guarantee you, that data includes a ton of people, maybe even a majority of people, who are absolutely eligible voters, and states would probably be breaking the law if they remove those voters from the rolls.