Secretary of State Aguilar defends Nevada election integrity against White House claims

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar isn’t buying what the Trump medication is peddling.

Hours aft President Donald Trump and the Department of Homeland Security claimed to person uncovered hundreds of thousands of noncitizens registered to ballot crossed 4 states — including Nevada — Aguilar pushed backmost hard, calling the announcement portion of a “predictable playbook” designed to sow uncertainty astir American elections.

“Nevada voters merit facts, not fear,” Aguilar said successful a connection soon aft Trump leveled the allegations successful a nationally televised code Thursday night. “The President has spent the amended portion of a decennary attempting to manufacture a situation astir voting erstwhile determination is none. Today’s announcement from the President and Department of Homeland Security is the latest section successful a predictable playbook crafted intentionally to undermine religion successful our elections. Nevada voters and each Americans merit better.”

Trump said Thursday that DHS had identified “approximately 278,000 noncitizens who are registered to ballot successful national elections.” The fig traces backmost to a White House papers alleging much than 250,000 noncitizen registrations dispersed crossed California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania — but the papers offered nary methodology oregon supporting evidence, and noted that nary of the 4 states usage SAVE, the national citizenship-verification strategy DHS administers.

DHS says 15,903 noncitizens are registered to ballot successful Nevada. It claims California has 190,832 noncitizens connected its elector rolls.

“Election information is nationalist security,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said successful a connection Friday. “As President Trump announced past night, DHS has identified implicit 250,000 imaginable non-citizens illegally registered to ballot successful conscionable 4 U.S. states. Only Americans should beryllium electing American leaders.”

Because those states don’t tally their elector files done SAVE — the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements online work administered done the Department of Homeland Security that allows authorities agencies to verify the citizenship oregon migration presumption of applicants for nationalist benefits, licenses and authorities credentials — it’s unclear however DHS arrived astatine its numbers successful the archetypal place. The papers besides asserted that each 4 states had been formally notified of “this superior menace to nationalist security.” Aguilar’s bureau said it had received nary specified notification.

Data released from Aguilar’s bureau shows Nevada has astir 2.1 cardinal progressive registered voters — and of those, 138 registered without providing a driver’s licence oregon Social Security number. Even that radical isn’t needfully made up of noncitizens; authorities officials enactment those voters whitethorn person utilized different valid forms of ID, including tribal identification.

Aguilar framed the discrepancy arsenic portion of a signifier that stretches backmost years.

“Since 2020, Nevada predetermination officials of some parties person consistently defended the integrity of the state’s elections erstwhile confronted with unsupported fraud allegations,” helium said. “In 2020, the President came aft battleground states to effort to sway the election. He continues to onslaught america and make uncertainty up of the midterm elections due to the fact that helium knows however important our voters are. As Nevada’s Chief Elections Officer, it’s my occupation to telephone balls and strikes – truthful erstwhile the President lies, I americium obligated to telephone him out. The facts person not changed: Nevada’s elections are among the safest, astir unafraid and accessible successful the nation.”

Trump has spent years trying to person supporters that his 2020 nonaccomplishment to President Joe Biden was fraudulent. In Nevada, arsenic successful different states, aggregate lawsuits alleging fraud were thrown retired of court.

Aguilar’s bureau pointed to a bid of upgrades made successful effect to elector concerns, including a caller statewide elector registration and predetermination absorption system, machines successful each region that fto in-person voters people and reappraisal their ballots earlier submitting them and real-time nationalist tracking of ballot status.

“Our elections are administered by local, experienced predetermination professionals who travel the law, usage proven safeguards and enactment each time to guarantee each eligible elector tin marque their dependable heard,” Aguilar said. “There are galore protections successful spot to forestall noncitizens, and anyone ineligible, from casting a ballot. Nevada’s predetermination systems are taxable to rigorous testing, certification requirements and aggregate layers of information designed to support the integrity of the voting process. Any claims of predetermination fraud are taken earnestly and investigated by our office, but determination is nary grounds of wide fraud.”

He besides addressed predetermination information much broadly, noting that Nevada’s systems held up past twelvemonth against a large cyberattack connected authorities authorities infrastructure — adjacent as, helium said, national backing for authorities cybersecurity and predetermination medication has been cut.

“Foreign actors person attempted to people election-related accusation successful the past, which is wherefore predetermination officials stay vigilant and proceed strengthening information measures,” Aguilar said. “However, entree to accusation does not mean an predetermination was compromised oregon that votes were changed. Nevada maintains aggregate layers of safeguards to support elector accusation and predetermination infrastructure.”

When Nevada’s authorities authorities came nether cyberattack successful 2025 — 1 of the worst connected grounds for a authorities system, which knocked retired galore authorities websites and services — Aguilar’s predetermination absorption strategy and elector database stayed online and unafraid throughout. Aguilar said years of proactive cybersecurity spending by the caput of state’s bureau helped support its systems secure.

He added that his bureau keeps strengthening its defenses connected its ain dime, adjacent arsenic national backing for authorities cybersecurity and predetermination medication has been chopped and faces further threatened cuts nether the Trump administration.

Nevada isn’t the lone authorities disputing the White House’s figures. Pennsylvania’s Republican caput of the commonwealth, Al Schmidt, has said Pennsylvania’s elector rolls are decently maintained and that noncitizen voting remains highly uncommon nationally, and helium invited DHS to stock its methodology truthful officials could reappraisal it themselves.

The New York Times reports that authorities officials — including Republicans — person repeatedly walked backmost inflated noncitizen-voter figures aft person review.

In Iowa, an archetypal estimation of 2,176 imaginable noncitizen registrations was revised down to 277, and of those, lone 35 ballots were yet recovered to person been formed successful the 2024 wide predetermination — retired of much than 1.6 cardinal ballots statewide. The nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research has recovered that ample claimed totals of noncitizen registrations thin to shrink dramatically erstwhile decently investigated.

The Times besides reported that DHS’s investigation appears to trust connected publically disposable elector files that person been stripped of identifying details, similar driver’s licence numbers, for privateness reasons — a method experts accidental is prone to producing inflated, unreliable counts.

Notably, the Trump medication has made that aforesaid statement successful ongoing ineligible efforts to compel Democratic-led states to crook implicit unredacted elector data, including successful a tribunal filing this outpouring successful which Justice Department attorneys said they needed driver’s licence numbers to weed retired duplicate names.

For now, Aguilar’s connection to Nevada voters is 1 of reassurance heading into the midterms.

“Attempts to dispersed misinformation and make distrust marque radical question a process that works and endanger to halt them from participating and voting,” helium said. “When voters suffer assurance successful elections, our full ideology suffers. They merit assurance successful the systems that support their voice. The Nevada Secretary of State’s Office remains focused connected what matters: protecting each eligible voter’s close to enactment and ensuring the 2026 midterm elections are safe, unafraid and accessible.”