The Department of Homeland Security threatened states with fines and charges over election measures.
Posted by Badlands Media, Checked
- Sources
- 3 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 85%
Badlands MediaSep 16, 2026
Reuters reporting from July 17, 2026 says DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened state officials with fines and criminal charges if they did not comply with election security measures, and the claim matches the post's wording faithfully.
What was said
… We've seen the Justice Department send letters to election officials, every single state, threatening them over non-citizen voting, including states that don't even have voter registration, like North Dakota doesn't have voter registration. We've seen the Department of Homeland Security threaten states with fines and charges over election measures and make wild claims about numbers of, alleged non-citizens in those states. We've seen, of course, the president's prime time speech on July 16th, where he, he led us to believe this would be the bombshell speech, where he blew the lid off all of the …
Badlands Media · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. Reuters (tier 1) reports that Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened state officials with fines and criminal charges on July 17, 2026 if they did not comply with election security measures.[1]
Supports. Mullin is quoted saying officials who chose not to comply could be "held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even depending on how far it goes, prison time."[3]
Supports. Politico (tier 2) reports that DHS has issued threats toward states that have refused to turn over voter rolls, consistent with the reported pattern of federal pressure on states.[2]
Context. Nevada's secretary of state rejected the DHS numbers as speculative and unsupported, and Pennsylvania said voter fraud is rare; these responses dispute DHS's underlying figures, not the fact that the threats were made.[1][4]
Context. The syndicated copies (AOL, Tucson.com, Irish Times) reproduce the same Reuters text and add no independent confirmation.[3][4][5]
Sources
5 sources: 1 fact-checker, 1 tier 2, 3 not rated
- 1DHS threatens states with fines, charges over election ...reuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
- 2States face foreign threats — and a fractured federal ...politico.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 3DHS threatens states with fines, charges over election measuresaol.com · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 4Trump threatens network licenses for not carrying speechtucson.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 5Trump administration official threatens states to comply ...irishtimes.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- The Department of Justice has threatened to charge state officials if they find election fraud or unauthorized voting.True
- Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullen threatened election officials with criminal prosecution if they did not put Trump's election changes into effect.True
- The Department of Homeland Security has conducted a voter roll purge.Mixed
- FEMA is threatening to withhold federal terrorism prevention funds from states that do not change their election policies.True
- Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullen claimed election officials may face prison time if they do not comply with Trump's attempts to change election policies.True