Mullin asks Blanche to review barcode ballots, ERIC’s access to driver records, and more than 42,000 deceased names on Georgia’s rolls
The Department of Homeland Security has formally put election-system vulnerabilities, private voter-data access, and a major Georgia voter-roll finding before the Department of Justice.
In a signed Sept. 2 letter, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin asked Attorney General Todd Blanche to review prior DHS referrals involving barcode and QR-code voting systems, the Electronic Registration Information Center, and the Center for Election Innovation and Research.
This is not a social-media rumor. It is a DHS secretary asking the attorney general to decide whether election systems and private access to government records comply with federal law.
DHS Questions Barcode Ballots Under HAVA
Mullin asked DOJ whether systems that count votes encoded in barcodes or QR codes satisfy the Help America Vote Act. The law requires voting systems used in federal elections to produce a permanent paper record with manual-audit capacity and make that record available for recounts, under 52 U.S.C. § 21081.
The letter states DHS identified systems that can separate the programming of the barcode from the human-readable text on the printed ballot. That configuration can leave auditors with a paper record that fails to reflect the machine-counted vote.
Mullin’s letter cites a released CISA Election Report examining ImageCast X ballot-marking devices.
“A researcher showed that hackers could change the votes encoded in the barcode, without even having physical access to the machines.” — CISA Election Report
ERIC, CEIR, and Georgia’s Voter Rolls Go to DOJ
DHS also asked DOJ to review whether states unlawfully shared motor-vehicle and voter-registration data with private nonprofits. The referral identifies ERIC and CEIR and raises potential violations of the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.
Mullin wrote that ERIC’s model contract requires member states to transmit motor-vehicle licensing and identification records at least every 60 days. He said the data can include Social Security and driver’s-license numbers, then questioned whether ERIC’s use and sharing of that information fits federal privacy-law exceptions.
The letter states Georgia has sent protected data to ERIC since 2019. It also states that when Georgia ran its voter file through the federal SAVE system in 2026, USCIS analysts identified more than 42,000 deceased registrants on the state’s rolls.
Mullin placed those referrals directly before Blanche. The ballot-code question, the ERIC data trail, and Georgia’s 42,000-name finding now sit in DOJ’s file.
