Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin warned Friday that state election officials who refuse to cooperate with the Trump administration’s SAVE program could face serious consequences, including fines, penalties, and potentially prison time, if they fail to act after receiving information intended to help secure elections.
SAVE, which stands for “Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements,” is part of the SAVE America Act that President Donald Trump has urged congressional Republicans to pass. The legislation, however, has not yet advanced in the Senate, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., saying he does not have sufficient support to secure its passage.
Mullin made the remarks during a Friday press conference as he reiterated President Trump’s claims about vulnerabilities in U.S. elections, following the president’s nationally televised address to the nation on Thursday evening.
According to The New York Times, “President Trump drew selectively from documents his aides published online to insinuate that U.S. elections have been compromised for years and that government officials had suppressed the evidence.”
During the press conference, a reporter from the conservative Daily Caller asked Mullin whether he could assure Americans that the upcoming midterm elections would be secure.
“First of all, great question, thank you,” Mullin responded. “When we start talking about can we ensure that the midterm elections are going to be secure? Yes, we absolutely can build confidence in the American people, but the states have to do their part.”
Mullin said cooperation from state governments would be essential to the administration’s election security efforts, adding that states declining to participate in the SAVE program would receive additional scrutiny.
“I will tell you, if the states that choose not to participate with the SAVE program and they choose not to participate in securing the elections, we will make sure that we make those states a priority to look at who voted in their states and hold them, the election officials, accountable,” Mullin said.
He went on to warn that election officials who receive information from the federal government but fail to take action could face legal consequences.
“If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even, depending on how far it goes, prison time,” Mullin said.
The comments came one day after President Trump delivered a prime-time address focused on election security and integrity. During that speech, the president discussed what his administration has described as evidence of vulnerabilities in the nation’s election system.
On Friday, the White House also published a webpage outlining its position on election integrity. The page included President Trump’s claims regarding election security and the administration’s broader stance on the issue.
Mullin’s remarks underscored the administration’s push for greater state participation in the SAVE program while signaling that federal officials could seek to hold election administrators accountable if they decline to use information provided through the initiative. His comments also came as congressional Republicans continue debating the future of the SAVE America Act, with Senate leadership acknowledging that the legislation currently lacks enough support to pass.
