DHS Ties Grant Money to Paper-Ballot Audits After Vendors Cite China-Made Parts

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told the White House Transparency Task Force that the three vendors supplying more than 80 percent of U.S. voting systems have acknowledged Chinese-manufactured components, some with no ready American substitute, and that a compromised part could become a coordinated entry point before a machine is assembled. The Aug. 24 letter, released Thursday, is the unclassified overview the task force requested on election-infrastructure supply-chain risk. It pairs that warning with grant conditions FEMA published in July: states that want full Homeland Security Grant Program awards must run random post-election manual counts of paper ballots. FEMA will hold back 20 percent of each award until a state proves it complied.

“Voting machines with components manufactured by foreign adversaries introduce significant security risks,” Mullin wrote. “These vulnerabilities mean that malicious actors could potentially compromise election infrastructure at any stage of the supply chain, even before the machines are assembled or deployed. If a component is tampered with during manufacturing, it could serve as a point-of-entry for hackers, allowing for the possibility of synchronized attacks across multiple machines and jurisdictions.” He cited a 2024 Office of the Director of National Intelligence Annual Threat Assessment that called China “the most active and persistent cyber threat to U.S. Government” networks and a declassified October 2024 National Intelligence Council memorandum stating that “some U.S. adversaries — at a minimum China, Iran, and Russia” have “the technical capability to access some U.S. election-” related systems. Nine vendors serve U.S. elections. Three — Election Systems & Software, Hart InterCivic, and Dominion — hold more than 80 percent of the market. Representatives of each, the letter said, have acknowledged parts made in China. Dominion’s then-president and CEO told Congress manufacturers “would be challenged to source certain product hardware components from outside of China. In some cases, there are simply no alternative suppliers.” ES&S said some components are sole-sourced, patented, or built into circuit design. Hart InterCivic asked DHS for “additional guidance and best practices on supply chain security.”

The Homeland Security Grant Program “requires states to trust but verify the results produced by the voting machines,” Mullin wrote. “To receive full grant awards, states must demonstrate that they have conducted random post-election manual counts of paper ballots to ensure that any errors or manipulation is detected.” A senior White House official said the random check is expected to cover about 5 percent of ballots cast. That figure matches the July 10 DHS notice of funding opportunity. FEMA then made more than $1 billion available and listed other conditions: a plan to move off systems that use barcodes or QR codes to count votes and onto equipment that accepts hand-marked paper ballots; reconciliation of voters with ballots cast; and use of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system to check citizenship on the rolls, with a 120-day clock after accepting the grant. Mullin has said 23 states were already in SAVE as of mid-July. Critics, including states that have sued, argue FEMA is attaching election-administration mandates to counterterrorism and emergency-preparedness money. DHS says election systems are critical infrastructure and “election security is national security.” Some reporting notes that 36 states already conduct some form of post-election audit, though methods differ.

The letter does not assert that a Chinese component has already altered a U.S. vote tally. It describes supply-chain exposure and the department’s mitigation: paper records that can be counted by hand, and grant money held until states show they counted. Vendors have long said global electronics supply chains leave few alternatives for certain chips, boards, and displays. Location of a supplier is not, by itself, proof a part was tampered with. Mullin’s point is that the United States cannot currently source some of those parts at home, and that the grant rules treat a paper trail and a sample hand count as the check on machines that contain them. FEMA’s 20 percent holdback applies until a state submits proof and the department verifies it. The midterms are the first federal election under the published conditions.