Key facts
- Nevada election officials confirmed 185 individuals flagged by DHS as non-citizens are US citizens.
- DHS's methodology for identifying non-citizens on voter rolls has been criticized for a lack of transparency.
- Nevada officials stated that DHS provided only voter ID numbers, which can be shared by multiple individuals.
- Pennsylvania election officials also questioned DHS's confidence in its non-citizen voter roll numbers.
Nevada election officials have confirmed that 185 individuals identified by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as non-citizens on the state's voter rolls are, in fact, US citizens. This finding escalates concerns over the methodology used by the federal agency to flag potential non-citizen voters ahead of the midterm elections.
In July, President Donald Trump claimed that DHS had identified 278,000 non-citizens on voter rolls across Nevada, California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Subsequent communications from DHS weakened this claim, suggesting there could be as many as 278,000 non-citizens in total across these states, with up to 15,903 in Nevada alone.
In August, DHS officials informed staff in the Nevada secretary of state's office that they had reviewed the numbers and confirmed 185 individuals as non-citizens, though over 14,000 records still required further review. However, Nevada election officials stated this week that their review of the 185 records showed they were all US citizens. "As for the 185 individuals, our records indicate that they were citizens. You have provided nothing of substance to suggest otherwise," Greg Ott, a deputy attorney general for Nevada, wrote to DHS in an email obtained by The New York Times and The Nevada Independent.
Ott also criticized DHS for a lack of transparency regarding its methodology and for not sharing adequate information. Nevada officials requested specific data points DHS used for its matches, but the department reportedly only offered voter ID numbers. Ott explained that these numbers can be associated with different voters over time, especially with the state's recent transition to a unified statewide voter registration system. He added that these numbers do not indicate how an individual obtained citizenship, such as being born in the US or naturalizing.
Similar concerns have been raised in Pennsylvania, where election officials have also sought information from DHS about its basis for claiming up to 14,576 non-citizens were on its rolls. According to a letter obtained by Votebeat, Al Schmidt, Pennsylvania's top election official, indicated that DHS representatives had expressed low confidence in that figure.