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DHS Secretary Mullin asked DOJ to investigate voter-data nonprofits ERIC and CEIR over disputed privacy-law claims

On September 2, 2026, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent Attorney General Todd Blanche a letter asking the Justice Department to investigate the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) and the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR) for allegedly violating the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act by sharing state motor-vehicle and voter data. The letter, released publicly by the White House on September 4, also asked DOJ to review whether certain ballot-marking devices comply with federal law. CEIR's executive director denied the allegations, and a federal judge had already dismissed a similar civil suit against the group as frivolous in June 2026.

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

On September 2, 2026, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent a four-page letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche asking the Justice Department to review whether the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC) and the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR) violated the federal Driver's Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) by sharing state motor-vehicle and voter-registration data. The White House released the letter publicly on September 4. Mullin wrote that ERIC's model contract requires member states to hand over driver's-license and Social Security data at least every 60 days, and that ERIC and CEIR used the data to identify and contact "eligible but unregistered" voters — activity he argued exceeded the DPPA's narrow research exception. He separately asked DOJ to examine whether certain ballot-marking devices comply with federal law, citing DHS findings that some machines print a ballot's vote choices separately from the barcode used to tabulate it, which he said could make the printed record unreliable for a manual audit.

ERIC is a nonprofit created and governed by member states' own election officials to help maintain accurate voter rolls; CEIR, founded by former ERIC co-founder David Becker, has received funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. In June 2026, a federal judge dismissed a civil suit brought by the group 1798 Foundation alleging similar data-sharing violations by CEIR and sanctioned the lawyers who filed it for making frivolous claims.

CEIR Executive Director David Becker denied Mullin's allegations in a statement, saying the organization "firmly rejects any suggestion that it receives motor-vehicle or voter data on an ongoing basis, conditions grants on access to sensitive information, or uses such information for partisan purposes." ERIC did not respond to requests for comment but said on its website that member states submit Social Security and driver's-license numbers only after cryptographic hashing. The letter did not allege a specific criminal charge or legal conclusion, and DOJ had not confirmed opening a formal investigation as of publication.

NOTUS described the referral as "the latest development" in the administration's broader effort to cast doubt on voting technology and pursue claims of widespread election fraud. Democracy Docket reported it followed earlier threats from Mullin, including a July warning that states refusing to adopt a new DHS citizenship-verification database would be prioritized for noncitizen-voting investigations.

Why we recorded this

Investigative power is supposed to follow evidence, not serve as leverage against groups on the other side of a political fight over election administration. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who has previously made voter-fraud claims his own department could not substantiate, asked the Justice Department to investigate two nonprofit election-data organizations months after a federal court dismissed a similar private lawsuit against one of them as frivolous and sanctioned the lawyers who brought it. This archive records the referral because directing federal investigative power at a claim already tested and rejected in court is itself an abuse of investigative discretion, independent of what any investigation later finds.

Sources

  1. Mullin Requests a DOJ Probe Into Voting Systems — NOTUS primary accessed September 5, 2026
  2. DHS asks DOJ to review voter data sharing tied to Zuckerberg-funded group — Washington Examiner primary accessed September 5, 2026
  3. Mullin Asks Blanche to Probe Election Group's Access to Driver Records — The Daily Signal primary accessed September 5, 2026
  4. DHS threatens pro-voting group over its voter registration research — Democracy Docket primary accessed September 5, 2026
  5. Markwayne Mullin uses Homeland Security to further Trump's voter fraud crusade — CNN investigative accessed September 5, 2026

See also