3 articles · Updated · The Philadelphia Inquirer · Jul 17
Summary
Josh Shapiro said Donald Trump’s renewed claims of widespread noncitizen voting were “not connected to reality,” after a White House memo alleged 278,000 noncitizens were registered across four Democratic-led states.
Pennsylvania officials disputed the claim directly: Secretary of State Al Schmidt, a Republican, said evidence shows noncitizen voting is extremely rare, while a 2026 state audit found just 1 improper noncitizen registration and no ballot cast.
The White House said the figures came from DHS checks using the SAVE database, but election lawyers warned the system can produce false positives because citizenship records do not always update promptly after naturalization.
The clash comes less than 4 months before November elections in a state with 4 targeted House swing districts, as the Trump administration presses states to hand over unredacted voter rolls and warns resisting officials could face fines or prison.
In July 2026, the Trump administration claimed that 278,000 noncitizens were on U.S. voting rolls, sparking a major federal-state standoff. Experts quickly refuted these claims, but the administration used them to justify a push for federal scrutiny of state voter registration data. This led to legal battles as the Justice Department sued 30 states and the District of Columbia to obtain sensitive voter information. States resisted, resulting in court dismissals and a broader confrontation over election authority. The controversy highlights the tension between federal demands and state control, with experts emphasizing the rarity of illegal noncitizen voting.