Last night President Trump gave a major address and ordered the declassification of intelligence that paints a very ugly picture. He laid out how China pulled off what looks like the largest compromise of U.S. voter data in history, stealing files on roughly 220 million Americans. He pointed to DHS findings showing around 278,000 non-citizens already registered to vote in federal elections nationwide, and he made it clear the real number is probably a lot higher because some states refused to turn over their files.
He also talked about how exposed our machines and ballot systems are to hacking and foreign interference. This wasn’t vague warnings. This was the President saying our election infrastructure has been dangerously compromised and that the problems are bigger than most people realize.
That’s the national backdrop. A lot of you have been saying for years that something like this was happening, that the system was being gamed, that foreign actors were in the data, and that non-citizens were ending up on rolls in places that didn’t bother checking. Trump just confirmed a big chunk of those concerns with official numbers.
So the obvious next question for Idaho is where do we stand in all this?
The same DHS information Trump referenced shows Idaho in a much better position than most of the country. We’re one of the ten states that actually ran our full voter list through the SAVE system. The results for Idaho came back with 4,328 deceased registrants and 49 non-citizens who had no business being registered. Those numbers are tiny compared to the states that never did the work.
I know a lot of you are still frustrated with Governor Little and Secretary McGrane. You remember Little calling the shots on the all-mail 2020 primary during pandemic. You remember McGrane accepting private “Zuckbucks” funding when he was Ada County Clerk. Those were real decision that a lot of us didn’t like and still don’t. Idaho isn’t perfect, and nobody here is claiming our officials suddenly turned into hard-line election warriors on their own.
As Secretary of State, McGrane has done the work on cleaning the rolls through SAVE. McGrane told Idaho Signal, “It was great to see Secretary Mullin of the Department of Homeland Security and President Trump recognize the work Idaho is doing to maintain some of the cleanest voter rolls in the nation. We have worked closely with DHS to help ensure that only eligible U.S. citizens vote in Idaho.”
McGrane has also pushed back on federal demands. When the DOJ asked for the complete un-redacted voter files with sensitive personal information, he offered the public version that is already available to anyone. But he refused to hand over the full sensitive data. He cited privacy protections for Idaho voters and concerns about how that data would be handled once it left state control. Many are critical of this decision, including the DOJ which is suing Idaho in federal court. Attorney General Raúl Labrador, as the state’s attorney, is representing McGrane in that case.
The reason Idaho looks better than most states right now is because people like you, the grassroots readers who stay on this issue, never let it go. You kept the pressure on. McGrane went on to say, “Before the 2024 presidential election, Governor Little issued the Only Citizens Will Vote Act, launching our comprehensive review of Idaho’s voter rolls using DHS citizenship data. That review found no evidence that a noncitizen cast a ballot in the 2024 election, and we are committed to bringing that same vigilance to the 2026 election.” That pressure is what forced the executive order and the actual use of SAVE. Without that accountability, we’d probably be in the same boat as states that are now showing hundreds of thousands of problems.
Here’s the practical question that matters going forward. How do we make sure the next report shows zeros, or as close to zero as we can realistically get, in both the deceased and non-citizen columns?
Absolute, permanent zero isn’t possible. Rolls are always moving. New people register. People die. People move. But we can keep those numbers extremely low if we treat this like an ongoing job instead of a one-time cleanup.
That means the Secretary needs to run full SAVE checks on a regular schedule, not just when the feds release a report. We need faster removal of deceased voters and quicker updates when people move or become inactive. And we need real transparency with regular public updates on exactly how many problems were found and fixed.
Secretary McGrane concluded his statement to Idaho Signal with, “Idaho has also developed best practices for regularly maintaining accurate and current voter rolls. When our work identified evidence of a potential illegal registration or voting we refer it to the Idaho State Police (ISP) for investigation. To date, 15 cases have been referred by ISP to the Department of Justice for potential criminal prosecution. Every eligible Idahoan should have confidence that their vote will count and that Idaho’s elections are accessible, secure, and accurate. Maintaining accurate voter rolls is an important part of keeping that promise.”
Idaho has an advantage right now because we’re not starting from zero like some other states. But that advantage only lasts if we stay on top of it. The national picture Trump laid out last night is a warning. The states that ignored this are paying for it with big numbers. Idaho doesn’t have to be one of them, as long as the pressure stays on.
That’s the job in front of us. The data from last night’s speech makes it clear why we can’t afford to take our eye off the ball.