Washington, June 15 (IANS) US Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has defended the Trump administration's push for stricter voter verification measures ahead of next year's midterm elections, saying only American citizens should be allowed to vote in federal contests and that even isolated instances of illegal voting undermine confidence in the electoral system.

Speaking on CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, Mullin said the Department of Homeland Security would support efforts by President Donald Trump to strengthen citizenship verification and improve the accuracy of voter rolls.

"We're going to make sure that our Constitution is upheld, meaning that only citizens of the United States are voting," he added.

"It's the most important thing we can do to protect the integrity of our election."

Mullin said that such measures are necessary to preserve public trust in elections.

"What we want to make sure is that every vote actually counts," he added.

During the interview, CNN host Kasie Hunt cited data showing relatively few prosecutions involving non-citizen voting and questioned whether the issue was widespread enough to justify additional safeguards.

Mullin said the number of cases was beside the point.

"One person voting illegally is one too many," he added.

"We shouldn't have to worry about even one."

The Homeland Security chief also claimed authorities had identified irregularities in voter registration records.

"We see thousands of individuals that are registered to vote that has had mail-out ballots to them that are passed away," he said.

"We see incidences where we're having 20, 30 ballots being mailed to the same address."

When asked whether the administration was attempting to curb mail-in voting, Mullin rejected the suggestion.

"What we're saying is make sure that they're legally able to vote," he said.

Mullin pointed to Oklahoma's voter identification procedures as an example of what he described as a secure electoral system.

"My wife and I voted just actually yesterday," he said.

"We go in and I still have to show my I.D. She has to show her I.D. You know what? Perfect."

The interview also touched on the potential role of federal law enforcement agencies during elections.

Asked whether he would rule out deploying Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) personnel to polling stations, Mullin said ICE officers would not be involved in voter identification or immigration enforcement activities at voting locations.

"What I said is that we would only be there if a threat is arised," he added.

He said ICE personnel could be used in emergency situations involving public safety concerns, such as bomb threats or incidents requiring additional law enforcement support.

"The only reason why we would be there is not for voter identification," Mullin said.

"It'd be because law enforcement is needed."

Voting rights and election security remain politically contentious issues in the United States.

Republicans have generally said that stronger voter identification and citizenship verification measures are needed to protect election integrity, while Democrats contend that voter fraud is rare and warn that additional requirements could create barriers for eligible voters.

--IANS

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