Mullin threatens states with election funding cuts over voter-roll probe

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened states with cuts to federal election-related aid if they refused to cooperate with the administration’s voter-roll probe. He also warned that election officials could face criminal penalties, sharpening a clash over whether Washington can pressure states into changing how they manage voter rolls.

Mullin said states could lose federal reimbursement “to run federal elections” if they did not comply, and he told reporters that the Department of Homeland Security would comb voter rolls for people who are not U.S. citizens. Reuters reported that Mullin asked election officials in four states to check their rolls for noncitizens, as the administration stepped up pressure to obtain voter-registration data and review rolls before the midterms.

The legal fight sits on top of a familiar federal-state divide. States have primary responsibility for administering elections, but Congress can use its spending power to support or shape election administration through federal grants, according to a Congressional Research Service summary updated in April 2026. That makes election funding a potent lever, while also raising the question of how far the federal government can go before a funding threat becomes coercion.

The New York Times said Mullin echoed President Donald Trump’s misleading election-security claims at a Friday news conference and threatened local election officials with prison time. The Associated Press has also reported that Trump has pushed for a national voter list, underscoring how the administration has broadened its election push beyond the voter-roll probe.

The dispute is unfolding against a long memory of foreign interference. Reuters reported that U.S. intelligence concluded voter-registration systems or websites in seven states, Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Texas and Wisconsin, were compromised by Russian-backed operatives before the 2016 election. Only Arizona and Illinois were confirmed to have been breached in that episode, a reminder of why election security remains a politically sensitive issue even as state officials defend their control over the mechanics of running elections.