Peters and other senators call the alleged DHS voter searches alarming
Gary PetersU.S. senator and ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee; lead signatory
Peters and other senators say a whistleblower alleged that DHS staff were told to impersonate voters on state portals. They call the alleged conduct alarming if true and demand an end to the initiative and further information.
“If true, this is just another alarming effort by the Department to use data that USCIS materials admit may be inaccurate”
Official statement
Where this statement fits
Did DHS direct officers to misrepresent themselves to search state voter records?
A September 2026 whistleblower disclosure alleges that personnel working on DHS's Unlawful Voter Initiative were directed to search state voter portals even where access requires the user to be the voter or an authorized representative. The published packet includes a list of state sites, an attestation example, and a training excerpt saying officers could search the sites. The excerpt does not explicitly instruct officers to make false attestations. Senators Alex Padilla and Chuck Schumer have called for an investigation and an immediate halt to the activity. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin denied that officers were given the alleged directive. The dispute is whether DHS directed officers to misrepresent their authority to obtain protected voter records.
Source and context
Official statement
About this source
Signed letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, dated September 25 and posted September 28. It describes allegations that staff were told to impersonate voters and demands records and an end to the initiative.
Before the quotation
The signed letter describes the whistleblower's allegation that USCIS personnel were told to use personal information to impersonate voters on state websites.
After the quotation
Peters and the other signatories demanded information about the initiative and called for DHS to cease the activities described in the letter.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The signed letter explicitly makes its negative judgment conditional on the whistleblower allegation being true.
- Recorded on
- Published here
More from this case
Read the full caseCoons and other senators call the alleged DHS voter-portal searches alarming if true
“If true, this is just another alarming effort by the Department to use data that USCIS materials admit may be inaccurate, coupled with questionable means to potentially disenfranchise voters.”Read statement
Mullin denies directive to impersonate voters
“That's absolutely not the directive that we put out there, and it's not even close to what we're doing.”Read statement
Jones warns false voter-portal certifications may break Virginia law
“Users that falsely make this certification in an effort to gather protected voter information may be violating several Virginia criminal statutes.”Read statement
Share or embed this statement
The embed keeps its attribution link to The Dispute Index. Credit the image to The Dispute Index and link to the statement page.
Cite this record
- Publisher
- The Dispute Index
- Title
- Peters and other senators call the alleged DHS voter searches alarming
- First published
- Last updated
- Permalink
- https://disputeindex.com/events/3236-peters-and-other-senators-say-a-whistleblower-alleged
Last updated marks the most recent saved version of this published statement.
The Dispute Index. "Peters and other senators call the alleged DHS voter searches alarming". First published: 2026-09-28. Last updated: 2026-09-28. https://disputeindex.com/events/3236-peters-and-other-senators-say-a-whistleblower-alleged