U.S. Senator Alex Padilla and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer made a whistleblower report public on September 14, 2026, alleging that Department of Homeland Security agents may have broken state laws during an investigation into voter fraud. The report details the agency's Unlawful Voter Initiative, which launched in late August 2026 and has potentially committed thousands of violations of state law.

The whistleblower, represented by the nonprofit Democracy Defenders Fund, stated that federal agents involved in the initiative plugged personally identifiable information into public-facing state websites to check individual voter history. In some instances, employees may be required to make false attestations that they are the voter or acting with the voter's express authorization to access voter records. Virginia requires users to attest that they are the voter or have express authorization when searching voter rolls.

Training materials for the Unlawful Voter Initiative acknowledge that the voter data set agents were using contains inconsistent information. Federal officers were given a quota to review at least five subjects per hour and 40 subjects per day. Officers had approximately twelve minutes to determine if a subject is a U.S. citizen or an unlawful voter. Officers received their first and only training on August 21 and were expected to begin researching four days later.

DHS agents were tasked with creating law enforcement files known as TECS records for individuals determined to have voted unlawfully. In Nevada, DHS initially claimed to have identified 15,903 non-citizens on voter rolls but later confirmed only 185 after review. Previous audits have found instances of noncitizen voting to be very rare.

Senators Alex Padilla and Chuck Schumer wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and USCIS Director Joseph Edlow calling on them to halt the initiative. "If unreliable DHS data is used to generate purported evidence of 'unlawful voters,' that could disenfranchise eligible voters or disrupt state and local election administration," the senators wrote. They added that "DHS must not allow unreliable federal data or rushed investigations to interfere with Americans' right to vote or the administration of the November elections."

Why It Matters

The allegations concern the intersection of federal law enforcement powers and state election administration. The Department of Homeland Security is a United States federal executive department responsible for public security, but its involvement in voter roll verification touches on areas traditionally managed by state and local officials. The scale of the potential violations, described as thousands in the whistleblower report, suggests a systemic issue rather than isolated incidents.

The initiative relies on data that training materials admit is inconsistent, and previous audits have found noncitizen voting to be very rare. The rapid timeline, with officers receiving minimal training before beginning investigations under strict quotas, increases the risk of errors. These errors could lead to the creation of law enforcement records for eligible voters, potentially disrupting their ability to participate in upcoming elections.

Timeline

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin testified before a House committee on June 3, 2026. The Department of Homeland Security launched an effort called the "Unlawful Voter Initiative" in late August 2026.

The New York Times first reported on the DHS initiative and the possibility that agents were breaking state laws in early September 2026. Senators Alex Padilla and Schumer wrote a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and USCIS Director Joseph Edlow calling on them to halt the initiative. U.S. Senator Alex Padilla and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer made the whistleblower report public on September 14, 2026.

What's New

Later reporting revealed that DHS lawyers told officers investigating voter fraud they would not be held personally liable for violating state laws around accessing voter registration information if done as part of official duties. Officers were ordered to investigate noncitizens as well as naturalized U.S. citizens who may have registered or voted before they were naturalized.

The Department of Homeland Security is United States federal executive department.