Pennsylvania election officials are pushing back against claims from the federal government alleging that more than 14,000 noncitizens are currently registered to vote in the Commonwealth, demanding that federal authorities provide the data and methodology used to generate the figure.
In a formal response sent to U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt called into question the reliability of the federal government’s estimates, citing historic inaccuracies in federal immigration databases when applied to voter rolls.
DHS reported identifying roughly 14,576 alleged noncitizen voter registrations in Pennsylvania as part of a multi-state review encompassing over 250,000 potential cases nationwide.
State election leaders contend that DHS has failed to disclose the underlying data, dates, or specific methodology used to cross-reference state voter records.
State officials pointed out that federal systems—such as the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database—frequently contain outdated status records, often misidentifying naturalized U.S. citizens as noncitizens.
Secretary Schmidt, a Republican who previously investigated noncitizen registration glitches in Philadelphia, emphasized the state’s commitment to election integrity while cautioning against flawed matching techniques.
“Past analyses of voter lists have relied on faulty methodologies that can lead to inaccurate results and false claims about the citizenship status of eligible voters,” Schmidt wrote in his letter to federal officials, noting that naturalized citizens are routinely misflagged when federal databases fail to reflect recent citizenship updates.
Governor Josh Shapiro also addressed the federal claims, reiterating that the state takes all allegations of unlawful voting seriously and regularly refers credible leads to law enforcement, but noted that widespread noncitizen voting remains unsubstantiated.
The disagreement follows a broader federal effort targeting voter rolls across several states, including Nevada, California, and New Jersey. While federal officials have warned that states could face penalties or legal action over unverified voter rolls, state election administrators maintain that raw data matches without secondary verification risk disenfranchising legally registered American citizens.
Pennsylvania officials stated they remain open to reviewing specific cases provided federal agencies share verifiable voter-level data rather than unconfirmed estimates.
