A DHS investigation just confirmed what anyone paying attention already suspected: California — the state that has done more than any other to block proof-of-citizenship requirements — has more alleged non-citizen voter registrations than the other three flagged states combined.
The numbers: 190,832 non-citizen registrations flagged in California, with 81,336 having confirmed matches in federal immigration databases. New Jersey: 35,152 flagged, 19,497 confirmed. Nevada: 15,903 flagged, 8,576 confirmed. Pennsylvania — a state fought over precinct by precinct in every recent election — had 14,576 flagged, 8,594 confirmed. Total across four states: 256,000.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent formal letters to all four states Friday. His message was straightforward: "Allowing just one non-citizen to vote cancels the vote of one U.S. citizen." The states have until July 24 to respond. California's Secretary of State declined to comment.
Of course she did.
California gave non-citizens driver's licenses. California declared itself a sanctuary state. California fought every effort to require proof of citizenship at the ballot box — and when asked why, officials cited a lack of evidence that non-citizens were registering.
They didn't look. DHS looked. Now we know.
Nearly 191,000 flagged registrations in a single state. Not the nationwide total — one state. And that's before you get to the 400,000 dead voters DHS found still listed as active across the four-state audit. People who are provably, documentably no longer alive, still on the rolls as eligible voters.
The pushback will be that registration doesn't equal voting. But registration means they could have — and every time someone tries to find out whether non-citizen or deceased registrants actually cast ballots, the people who oppose voter ID laws find something else to talk about. There's a reason for that.
For years, election officials and their media allies called non-citizen voting "vanishingly rare" — a problem so small it wasn't worth investigating. The evidence for that claim was always the same: nobody checked.
DHS checked. Four states. 256,000 non-citizen registrations. 400,000 dead voters.
Trump is pushing the SAVE America Act through Congress — legislation requiring proof of citizenship to register to vote. Mexico requires it. France requires it. India requires it. In the United States, the people who have spent years blocking it now have 256,000 reasons to explain themselves.
The four flagged states have until July 24 to engage voluntarily with DHS. Whether California shows up will tell you everything you need to know about why this problem exists in the first place.
Four states audited. Two major problems confirmed. Forty-six states still unaudited. The question isn't whether this is isolated. The question is how big the number gets when someone finally checks all fifty.