U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin speaks about the potential for foreign adversaries to access electronic voting systems and alter voter registration and ballot data. [Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security YouTube capture] U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin stated during an election security briefing at the White House on the 17th that foreign adversaries could potentially gain access to core components of U.S. voting machines and critical backend entry points for equipment.

Secretary Mullin added that foreign adversaries could “change voter registrations and your vote,” asserting, “We know that it is possible.” This marks the first public acknowledgment by a U.S. homeland security chief regarding the possibility of voter information and ballot data being altered through electronic election systems.

However, Secretary Mullin did not disclose specific technical data to support these claims, such as the identities of specific voting machine manufacturers, vulnerable components, records of actual breaches, or instances of altered votes.

Therefore, this statement should be viewed as an official assessment by the head of the Department of Homeland Security that there is a technical possibility for external forces to infiltrate election networks and alter registration and ballot data, rather than as evidence that actual electronic manipulation has occurred in any specific U.S. election.

Secretary Mullin also announced that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), under the Department of Homeland Security, would release a new election infrastructure protection plan within 30 days.

Previously, on the 10th, the Department of Homeland Security proposed that, as a condition for state governments to receive federal disaster and security grants, they should move away from electronic voting systems that tally votes using barcodes and QR codes and transition to the use of voter-marked paper ballots. The proposal also mandates a manual audit of at least 5% of ballots and a reconciliation between the number of voters who participated and the total number of votes counted.

This statement aligns with recently declassified election-related documents released by Trump. However, the technical possibility of electronic manipulation, infiltration attempts in specific elections, and actual changes to election results are each separate matters requiring verification.

When asked about the possibility of electronic manipulation, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security personally replied that it is “possible.” The remaining task is to verify whether such access or data alteration has occurred in actual elections through equipment forensics, access logs, and the reconciliation of original data with physical ballots.