Heather Honey — DHS Senior Counselor and Election Integrity Lead
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Heather Honey — DHS Senior Counselor and Election Integrity Lead

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Heather Honey — DHS Senior Counselor and Election Integrity Lead

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ByCitizen Analyst
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Category: Trump Administration Official (DHS / ICE, election policy) Role: Senior counselor to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin; reported senior adviser to the ICE director; appointed August 2025 as DHS’s first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Election Integrity. NPR describes her as the official “leading this noncitizen voter project at DHS.” Priority: P1 (provisional — editor to confirm). Her Pennsylvania analysis entered the record of the effort to overturn 2020: a Senate Judiciary Committee exhibit shows it travelling from Pennsylvania legislators to Rep. Scott Perry to the Justice Department in December 2020, and Trump repeated the “205,000” figure on Jan. 6, 2021. She now directs a federal program that has fed tens of millions of records, including 48.4 million she supplied from undisclosed sources, into ICE investigations of voters and voter-registration groups. No court or congressional finding names her personally, which is why this is not P0.

Role

Honey joined DHS in August 2025 as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Election Integrity in the Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans, a position that did not exist before (Politico/AP; Democracy Docket). She served under Assistant Secretary David Harvilicz and, according to ProPublica, was part of the small group of political appointees that called itself “Team America” and looked for federal levers over elections from summer 2025.

By mid-2026 she had become senior counselor to Secretary Mullin (CNN; ProPublica; Democracy Forward). Records obtained by Democracy Forward show she also serves as a senior adviser to the director of ICE. In that role she has been the department’s public face with state election officials and its internal lead on the hunt for noncitizen voters: she supplied 48.4 million records to Homeland Security Investigations, promoted HSI’s voter-matching tool over the SAVE system, and ran DHS’s side of the August 2026 Nevada data dispute.

The position matters because DHS’s statutory election role is protective. Since 2017 it has supported states on cyber and physical security of election infrastructure. Honey’s portfolio turned that relationship toward investigation of voters, voter rolls and the groups that register voters.

Background

Before 2020 Honey was a Pennsylvania private investigator. She has run Haystack Investigations, a private-investigations and supply-chain auditing consultancy based in Lebanon County, since 2017 (Spotlight PA/Votebeat). The New York Times describes her pre-2020 work as counterfeit-goods investigations, “with no experience in researching complex election systems.” ProPublica reports she had no federal government or election-administration experience before DHS.

She has described her turn to elections as starting with a provisional ballot. On Cleta Mitchell’s “Who’s Counting” podcast in May 2022 she said a voter’s experience at the polls in 2020 “got me a little bit worked up and I went home and I started doing, I mean, what I do” (Spotlight PA/Votebeat). From November 2020 she requested data from the Pennsylvania Department of State and took her findings to state Rep. Frank Ryan.

After 2020 she built a set of organizations around that work:

  • Verity Vote, LLC — her election-research company; the vehicle for the “unverified ballots” claim (2022) and the recipient of grants from Mitchell’s FAIR fund (2024–25).
  • PA Fair Elections — a statewide activist group she co-founded and led, affiliated with Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network (EIN). It hosted weekly Zoom meetings that drew state legislators and county commissioners (Spotlight PA/Votebeat; Philadelphia Inquirer).
  • Election Research Institute (ERI) — a nonprofit she co-founded with attorney Karen DiSalvo. Honey signed a February 2024 federal court declaration as its executive director (see Court Records). DiSalvo now also works in DHS’s Office of Strategy, Policy, and Plans (Democracy Docket, citing OPM records).

She became, in ProPublica’s words, a protege of Cleta Mitchell. IRS filings reported by Democracy Docket list her as vice president and director of Mitchell’s Foundation for Accountability, Integrity & Research in Elections (FAIR) fund for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, two months before she joined DHS.

Basis for Inclusion

Subject classification: Public official (federal political appointee, DHS). The private-citizen inclusion gate does not apply to her current role.

Anchor (non-speech conduct): (1) Supplying 48.4 million records of undisclosed origin to ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations for a voter-fraud initiative (HSI report of June 1, 2026, as reported by CNN and The New York Times). (2) Leading DHS’s noncitizen-voter project, including its dealings with Nevada election officials (NPR). (3) Before government: litigation and administrative complaints against Pennsylvania election officials, a sworn declaration in federal court, and paid work on the Cyber Ninjas review in Arizona, all documented in court records or public records cited below. Her 2020 Pennsylvania claims count here because a Senate Judiciary Committee exhibit shows them used in a pressure campaign on the Justice Department, not just because she made them.

Democratic Malice Assessment

Status: Not yet scored. The DMA (agent-base/skills/malice-evaluator.md) has not been run on this profile. Candidate actions for scoring, in order of evidentiary strength:

  1. The 48.4 million-record contribution to HSI from “independent sources of information” (HSI document, June 1, 2026).
  2. Leadership of the DHS noncitizen-voter project whose public figures DHS later conceded were inflated (NPR, Aug. 25, 2026).
  3. The March 2025 “national emergency” remarks (NYT recording), scored only as context for her later conduct in office. Pre-appointment speech is not an official act.

The scorer should apply the Ideology/Malice gate to item 1 first. Its answer turns on what the “independent sources” were. That is still unknown, and it is the single most important open question in this profile.

Legal Disclaimer

This profile discusses conduct in the subject’s official capacity and her documented public activity before government. It does not allege criminal wrongdoing. Any characterization of conduct as advancing or undermining democratic norms reflects editorial assessment under Citizen Analyst’s published methodology, not a legal finding. See New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964).

Documented Actions

1. The Pennsylvania “205,000 more votes than voters” claim (December 2020 – January 2021)

Evidence: In December 2020, Pennsylvania Republican legislators circulated an analysis claiming a “voter deficit”: that the state had counted more votes than there were voters. Votebeat and Spotlight PA concluded in February 2024 that “the number appears to be the work of Heather Honey.” It rested on the state’s SURE voter-registration data, which counties had not finished updating. The state says that data cannot be used for this type of analysis. The Justice Department called the figure false, and Honey has since revised her own estimate down to roughly half (Votebeat/Spotlight PA). Politico and the AP reported in 2025 that her research “misrepresented incomplete state voter data.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation of the pressure on DOJ published the chain of custody. On Dec. 22, 2020, Rep. Frank Ryan sent “Report for Voter Deficit” to a list that included a Senate Homeland Security committee staffer, Rep. Scott Perry’s campaign address, state legislators and staff, and Heather Honey. Attached were “Summary PA Election Issues 12222020.pdf” and a “Final Letter to Sen Johnson and Congressman Perry.” On Dec. 27, 2020, Perry forwarded it to Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue (“Sir, as discussed”). That night Donoghue forwarded it to U.S. Attorney Scott Brady in Pittsburgh: “JFYI regarding allegations about PA voting irregularities, for whatever it may be worth.”

On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump told the crowd at the Ellipse that Pennsylvania “had 205,000 more votes than you had voters” (Politico/AP). The Capitol was attacked that afternoon.

SourceSenate Judiciary Committee, Donoghue Exhibit 7 (Dec. 22–27, 2020 email chain, document ID SJC-Pre-CertificationEvents-04162021-000336). https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/donoghue-exhibit-7 ; Senate Judiciary Committee report reproducing it (GovInfo). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-Y4_J89_2-PURL-gpo161145/pdf/GOVPUB-Y4_J89_2-PURL-gpo161145.pdf ; Votebeat/Spotlight PA (via WHYY), Carter Walker, “This Pa. activist is the source of false and flawed election claims gaining traction across the country,” Feb. 13, 2024. https://whyy.org/articles/pennsylvania-heather-honey-donald-trump-election-integrity-eric-analysis ; Politico, “Researcher who has distorted voter data appointed to Homeland Security election integrity role,” Aug. 26, 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/26/dhs-election-security-2020-election-conspiracy-00527453The exhibit shows Honey as a recipient of the Dec. 22 email. It does not, by itself, show that she wrote the attachments. Attribution of the number to her rests on Votebeat/Spotlight PA’s reporting and on ProPublica, which calls her “a source of the false claim.”

Pattern: Flawed data analysis converted into a national election-fraud claim and carried to federal law enforcement

2. Paid role in the Cyber Ninjas review of Maricopa County (2021)

SourceProPublica, Doug Bock Clark, “Heather Honey, an Election Denier, Will Help Oversee Election Security at the DHS,” Aug. 2025. https://www.propublica.org/article/heather-honey-dhs-election-security ; Spotlight PA, “False election claims tied to PA activist Heather Honey,” Feb. 2024. https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2024/02/pennsylvania-heather-honey-donald-trump-election-integrity-eric-analysis ; American Oversight, “The Campaign to Dismantle ERIC.” https://americanoversight.org/resource/the-campaign-to-dismantle-ericEvidence: Honey’s firm Haystack Investigations was a subcontractor to Cyber Ninjas, the lead contractor on the Arizona Senate Republicans’ review of Maricopa County’s 2020 results (American Oversight; Spotlight PA/Votebeat). Records obtained by American Oversight and The Arizona Republic show she was listed as a “manager” and billed tens of thousands of dollars. How much she was ultimately paid is unclear. ProPublica, citing emails between employees on the review, reports she helped draft the final report. Honey confirmed her involvement in a podcast interview with a GOP lawyer (Politico). The review ran six months and ended up confirming Biden’s win by a slightly larger margin than the certified count. Experts described it as “riddled with errors, bias and flawed methodology” (Politico/AP), and the Brennan Center notes that its headings overstated or conflicted with its own findings.

Pattern: Commercial participation in partisan post-election “audits”

3. The campaign against ERIC and the “unverified ballots” claim (2022–2023)

Evidence: Honey was among the most active advocates in the campaign that pushed several Republican-led states out of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), the bipartisan interstate voter-list maintenance cooperative (Brennan Center; Democracy Docket; American Oversight). Votebeat/Spotlight PA found her research “fueled GOP backlash against a tool intended to make voter rolls more accurate.” It also documented the method: she treated routine voter-history changes, such as a voter cancelled after moving away post-election, as evidence of irregularity.

SourceBrennan Center for Justice, “Why Future Federal Reports on Election Security May Be Unreliable.” https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/why-future-federal-reports-election-security-may-be-unreliable ; Votebeat/Spotlight PA (via WHYY), Feb. 13, 2024 (above); Politico, Aug. 26, 2025 (above)In 2022 Verity Vote claimed Pennsylvania had sent mail ballots to roughly 250,000 “unverified” voters. Politico gives “some 250,000”; the Brennan Center gives 255,000. The claim counted applications flagged “not verified” in the state system. The Department of State explained that the flag is a security step marking applications that need further identity verification before a ballot can count, not a lapse (Brennan Center; Politico). The Brennan Center reports she has not withdrawn or corrected her claims after officials explained them. Records obtained by American Oversight also show she provided apparent draft bill language to state Reps. Seth Grove and Russ Diamond in June 2021 (Spotlight PA/Votebeat).

Pattern: Misreading administrative data to attack voter-list maintenance infrastructure

4. Litigation and complaints against Pennsylvania election officials (2021–2026)

Evidence: Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said in August 2025 that his department “has spent years successfully defending Pennsylvania’s election laws against lawsuits filed by Heather Honey, and we are engaged in litigation against her to this day” (Philadelphia Inquirer). The court record, retrieved from CourtListener for this profile, bears that out, with one significant exception that cuts the other way:

  • Overseas voters (HAVA complaint). PA Fair Elections and Honey filed a Help America Vote Act complaint challenging how the Department of State registers voters under UOCAVA, the federal overseas and military voting law. The Department dismissed it on Nov. 21, 2023. The Commonwealth Court affirmed on May 2, 2025 (PA Fair Elections & Heather Honey v. Pa. Dep’t of State, No. 1512 C.D. 2023, opinion by Judge Covey), holding the Department’s treatment of UOCAVA voters “consistent with HAVA.” The court noted Honey is “a member and authorized representative of PA Fair Elections.”
  • Voting machines (HAVA complaint). PA Fair Elections, Honey and a Northampton County judge of elections sought to decertify the ExpressVote XL after a 2023 municipal-election printing error. The state dismissed the complaint on Feb. 20, 2024. The Commonwealth Court affirmed on May 28, 2025 (No. 372 C.D. 2024).
  • Cast vote records (Right-to-Know). On Oct. 20, 2021, Honey asked Lycoming County for the cast vote records (CVRs) from every 2020 tabulator. The county and the Office of Open Records refused. The trial court held that Honey lacked standing because she votes in Lebanon County, not Lycoming, but allowed three Lycoming voters to intervene. The Commonwealth Court held CVRs exempt (312 A.3d 942, Mar. 4, 2024). The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed on April 28, 2026 (No. 79 MAP 2024, opinion by Justice McCaffery, joined by all six other justices). It held that CVRs are subject to public inspection and that disclosure “facilitates greater trust in our elections.” Here a records request Honey started produced a statewide transparency precedent.
  • Overseas ballots, federal court. On Oct. 18, 2024, Honey attended the hearing in Reschenthaler v. Schmidt, the suit by six Republican members of Congress and PA Fair Elections asking that overseas voters face extra verification before the 2024 election (AP; Philadelphia Inquirer). The amended complaint attached the PA Fair Elections/Honey HAVA petition as an exhibit. The case was terminated on Oct. 29, 2024; Democracy Docket reports it was dismissed.

Court record: PA Fair Elections v. Pa. Dep’t of State, Pa. Commw. Ct., No. 1512 C.D. 2023, affirmed May 2, 2025. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10458279/pa-fair-elections-h-honey-v-pa-dos-oor/ ; PA Fair Elections v. Pa. Dep’t of State, Pa. Commw. Ct., No. 372 C.D. 2024, affirmed May 28, 2025. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10593672/pa-fair-elections-v-pa-dos-secy-of-the-com-a-schmidt/ ; Honey v. Lycoming Cnty. Offices of Voter Servs., Pa. Commw. Ct., No. 57 C.D. 2023, Mar. 4, 2024. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/9480633/h-honey-v-lycoming-county-offices-of-voter-services-appeal-of-al/ ; Honey v. Lycoming Cnty. Offices of Voter Servs., Pa., No. 79 MAP 2024, reversed Apr. 28, 2026. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10849125/honey-h-v-lycoming-co-offices-of-voter-svcs/ ; Reschenthaler v. Schmidt, M.D. Pa., No. 1:24-cv-01671 (Conner, J.), filed Sept. 30, 2024, terminated Oct. 29, 2024. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69217417/reschenthaler-v-schmidt/

Pattern: Sustained legal and administrative pressure on state election administration, mostly unsuccessful

5. Sworn declaration in Keefer v. Biden (February 2024)

Evidence: Pennsylvania Republican legislators led by Rep. Dawn Keefer sued President Biden and Pennsylvania officials over Executive Order 14019 and state voter-registration practices. On Feb. 16, 2024, Honey filed a declaration under penalty of perjury supporting the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction. She identified herself as executive director of the Election Research Institute, claimed “over 30 years of experience as a professional researcher and investigator,” and stated that the plaintiffs’ law firm, Mohrman, Kaardal & Erickson, P.A., “has employed me to conduct research and investigations in this case.” Her exhibits included a Department of State directive on driver’s-license and SSN matching and Pennsylvania’s automatic voter registration announcement. The docket shows the case terminated on March 26, 2024. The disposition, and any appeal, are not covered here.

Court record: Keefer v. Biden, M.D. Pa., No. 1:24-cv-00147 (Wilson, J.), ECF No. 23 (Declaration of Heather Honey, Feb. 16, 2024). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68193172/23/keefer-v-biden/

Pattern: Paid expert-style support for litigation against federal and state voter-registration policy

6. Georgia rules, 2024 mail-ballot challenges and Mitchell’s network (2024–2025)

Evidence: ProPublica reported in 2024 that Honey played a key role in Mitchell’s behind-the-scenes effort to change Georgia’s election rules to let Republican officials contest a potential Trump loss, as ProPublica restated when she was appointed (ProPublica, “Heather Honey, an Election Denier, Will Help Oversee Election Security at the DHS,” 2025; ProPublica, “Georgia Counties May Get More Say in Delaying Vote Certification,” 2024).

Before the 2024 general election, activists filed challenges to thousands of Pennsylvania mail-ballot applications in 15 counties. In at least seven counties the challenger had attended PA Fair Elections meetings or said they worked with the group, and in Lycoming County the challenge came from ERI’s Karen DiSalvo. Every challenge was dismissed or withdrawn. PA Fair Elections and Honey denied coordinating the challenges (Spotlight PA, Nov. 8, 2024). In federal litigation, Common Cause’s proposed intervenors later told the court that five of them were among the voters challenged “by persons affiliated with Honey.” That is a party’s allegation, not a finding.

SourceSpotlight PA, Carter Walker, “Efforts to challenge Pennsylvania voters’ mail ballot applications fizzle,” Nov. 8, 2024. https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2024/11/mail-ballot-application-challenges-pennsylvania-fair-elections/ ; Democracy Docket, Brentin Mock, “Election denier Cleta Mitchell granted DHS elections official Heather Honey a lot of money.” https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/election-denier-cleta-mitchell-granted-dhs-elections-official-heather-honey-a-lot-of-money ; United States v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, W.D. Pa., No. 2:25-cv-01481 (Bissoon, J.), ECF No. 37 (Brief in Support of Motion to Intervene, Oct. 9, 2025). https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71453026/37/united-states-v-commonwealth-of-pennsylvania/Money also ran from Mitchell’s network to Honey’s company. Tax filings reported by Democracy Docket show the FAIR fund paid Verity Vote, LLC $121,284 for consulting in fiscal 2024 and just over $72,000 in fiscal 2025.

Pattern: Organized challenges to eligible voters; financial dependence on the network now briefed from inside DHS

7. The “national emergency” call (March 2025)

SourceThe New York Times, Alexandra Berzon and Nick Corasaniti, “Trump Empowers Election Deniers, Still Fixated on 2020 Grievances,” Oct. 22, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/us/politics/trump-election-deniers-voting-security.html ; The Independent, “Trump’s ‘election integrity’ chief claimed president has future powers to declare voting emergency.” https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-election-emergency-heather-honey-b2850270.html ; Congressional Record, S7811. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-171/issue-180/senate-section/article/S7811-1Evidence: In March 2025, before her appointment, Honey told right-wing activists on a call that the administration could declare a “national emergency” based on an “actual investigation” of the 2020 election if it showed “manipulation” of the vote. “We have some additional powers that don’t exist right now,” she said, and the government “can take these other steps without Congress and we can mandate that states do things and so on” (The New York Times, which obtained a recording, Oct. 22, 2025). A senator quoted the remarks on the Senate floor (Congressional Record, vol. 171, no. 180, S7811). This is pre-appointment speech and is included as context for her later conduct in office.

Pattern: Advocacy for emergency federal control of state election administration

8. Appointment and first contact with state officials (August–September 2025)

Evidence: Democracy Docket first reported, and a DHS organizational chart confirmed, that Honey had become Deputy Assistant Secretary for Election Integrity in August 2025 (Politico/AP; WHYY). Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes said she has a “well-documented history of spreading election lies” (ProPublica). On a Sept. 11, 2025 call with the National Association of Secretaries of State Elections Committee, which drew officials from nearly every state, she said DHS cybersecurity staff working on election misinformation had “strayed from their mission.” According to five people with knowledge of the call, she also made unspecified claims of censorship, referred to a report activists use to attack voting machines, and suggested using law-enforcement “fusion centers” for election security. Officials left “confused and anxious” (The New York Times; The Independent).

SourceThe New York Times, Oct. 22, 2025 (above; front page). https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/10/23/nytfrontpage/scan.pdf Court record: American Oversight v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-03812 (McFadden, J.), Complaint, ECF No. 1, filed Oct. 30, 2025. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71817485/american-oversight-v-us-department-of-homeland-security/American Oversight sued DHS and USCIS on Oct. 30, 2025 for records on her “hiring, activities, and communications,” after receiving no response to its FOIA requests.

Pattern: Importing movement claims into federal–state election security channels

9. Private briefings for the Election Integrity Network (2025–2026)

Evidence: ProPublica reports that at least 11 administration appointees, Honey among them, have ties to Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network. Since entering government, Honey “has maintained close ties to Mitchell’s organization, and she and at least two other federal officials have given its members private briefings.” A photo first reported by ProPublica, and shared with NBC News by the Campaign Legal Center, shows Honey dining with Mitchell, CISA public affairs director Marci McCarthy and voter-fraud software developer Richards Jr. Ethics experts told ProPublica that former EIN leaders briefing EIN while holding authority over the issues it lobbies on would have breached prior administrations’ guardrails. DHS said it hires “experts with diverse backgrounds who go through a rigorous vetting process.”

SourceProPublica, “Inside Trump’s Effort to ‘Take Over’ the Midterm Elections,” 2026. https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-midterm-elections-takeover ; NBC News, Jane C. Timm, “Conservative voter fraud hunters pitch new computer programs to state officials.” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/conservative-voter-fraud-hunters-pitch-new-programs-state-officials-rcna263738 ; Media Matters, “Key election denial activists in the right-wing media ecosystem,” Oct. 1, 2026. https://www.mediamatters.org/election-denial-voter-fraud-and-suppression/key-election-denial-activists-right-wing-media-0Former Colorado clerk Tina Peters, convicted of felonies over a breach of her county’s election equipment and later pardoned, has said a meeting she held with CISA officials was “facilitated” by Honey (Media Matters, summarizing Peters’s own account). That is Peters’s claim, not independently verified.

Pattern: Government access for a private advocacy network that funded the official

10. Assurances to election officials: ICE, SAVE and paper ballots (February–March 2026)

Evidence: On a Feb. 26, 2026 call organized by the Election Assistance Commission, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber asked about ICE at the polls. Honey answered: “Any suggestion that ICE is going to be present at polling places is simply disinformation. There will be no ICE presence at polling locations for this election.” Five participants confirmed the quote to Votebeat. On the same call she urged hand-marked paper ballots and said SAVE had helped states find more than 300,000 dead people and 25,000 noncitizens on their rolls. Fontes said, “We can’t guarantee that what she said was true.” Democracy Forward has since documented that the administration’s ICE-at-the-polls position moved over 2026 away from her assurance.

SourceVotebeat, “ICE won’t be at polling places in 2026 election, Trump administration official says,” Feb. 26, 2026. https://www.votebeat.org/2026/02/26/ice-agents-polling-places-2026-midterm-elections-heather-honey-election-official-meeting ; Democracy Forward, “In the Records: Exposing and Disrupting Federal Attempts to Interfere in the 2026 Midterm Elections,” Oct. 2026. https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/In-the-Records_Exposing-and-Disrupting-Federal-Attempts-to-Interfere-in-the-2026-Midterm-Elections.pdfIn March 2026, records obtained by Democracy Forward show, Honey met the Texas Secretary of State’s general counsel alongside USCIS officials who oversee SAVE. The records indicate the subject may have been SAVE errors that wrongly flagged eligible Texas voters as noncitizens.

Pattern: Official assurances later contradicted by policy

11. 48.4 million records from “independent sources” into ICE’s voter-fraud initiative (May–June 2026)

Evidence: HSI internal reports released by Democracy Forward describe a “phased national initiative” of voter-roll acquisition, data analysis, investigative leads and field investigations. A June 1, 2026 HSI report says investigators ingested 50.6 million records from a Justice Department dataset and 48.4 million records that Honey “had obtained through what the report called ‘independent sources of information.'” The report does not name those sources or say whether the two datasets overlap. A separate report attributes the 48.4 million-record dataset to her explicitly, and DHS staff sought to add officials working under her to the distribution of HSI’s weekly voter-fraud reports (CNN). The New York Times called the records “of unknown provenance.” The same documents show DHS investigated more than 150 voter-registration groups, concentrated in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and considered undercover agents. Those documents do not tie that decision to Honey personally.

SourceCNN, Gabe Cohen and Jeremy Herb, “ICE reviewed tens of millions of voter records looking for noncitizen voters, records show,” Oct. 7, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/07/politics/dhs-ice-voter-fraud-investigation-undercover ; The New York Times, Oct. 7, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/07/us/politics/trump-voter-registration-noncitizens-investigation.html ; ProPublica, “How Trump’s Unprecedented Effort to Prosecute Noncitizen Voters Fell Apart.” https://www.propublica.org/article/noncitizen-voting-trump-homeland-security-investigationsProPublica separately reports that by the end of that month, Honey was among the senior DHS and DOJ officials promoting the “HSI Tool” as a preferred alternative to SAVE. DHS told ProPublica her “expertise in election administration” was “invaluable to the Department’s efforts to protect critical infrastructure.”

Pattern: Feeding privately sourced voter data into federal criminal investigations

12. The Nevada noncitizen-voter dispute (August 2026)

SourceNPR, Jude Joffe-Block and Miles Parks, “DHS acknowledges the noncitizen numbers it touted on voter rolls were inflated,” Aug. 25, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/08/25/nx-s1-5940807/noncitizen-voters-trump-nevada-callEvidence: On July 16–17, 2026, Secretary Mullin and President Trump publicized DHS figures claiming hundreds of thousands of noncitizens on the rolls of four states (see Markwayne Mullin — DHS Secretary, Kimberley Vogt — FDNS Fraud Division Chief, USCIS). On an Aug. 13, 2026 call with Nevada election officials, Honey, whom NPR identifies as “leading this noncitizen voter project at DHS,” said: “We are an open book here. We are acting in very good faith. And we just want to help you.” Asked whether DHS was investigating Nevada officials, federal participants said there had been no criminal referrals, and Honey promised to “report back to the secretary that you guys were just great.” On Aug. 25, NPR reported that DHS had conceded the numbers it touted were inflated.

Pattern: Inflated fraud figures presented to the public, softened in private with the states

13. Grant conditions and Election Day planning (July–September 2026)

SourceDemocracy Forward, Oct. 2026 (above); The New Republic, “DHS Email Sparks Alarm About What Feds Will Do on Election Day,” Sept. 18, 2026. https://newrepublic.com/post/215577/dhs-email-target-districts-plan-election-dayEvidence: Democracy Forward’s records show Honey and former West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner coordinating the 2026 Homeland Security Grant Program, which tied up to 20% of states’ funding to new election-security requirements until a district court blocked it. In September 2026, a DHS email released in FOIA litigation, which listed target districts, went to an email chain that included Under Secretary Rob Law and Honey. In a court filing defending its redactions, DHS called the email a “subordinate sharing initial thoughts and opinions with leadership” (The New Republic).

Pattern: Use of federal funding conditions and planning authority over state elections

Court Records (CourtListener, retrieved 2026-10-10)

Case Court / No. Honey’s role Status
Honey v. Lycoming Cnty. Offices of Voter Servs. Pa. Supreme Ct., 79 MAP 2024 (from Commw. Ct. 57 C.D. 2023) Original requester; held to lack standing at trial Supreme Court reversed Commonwealth Court, Apr. 28, 2026: CVRs public
PA Fair Elections & Honey v. Pa. DOS Pa. Commw. Ct., 1512 C.D. 2023 Petitioner Dismissal affirmed, May 2, 2025
PA Fair Elections, Honey & Redfield v. Pa. DOS et al. Pa. Commw. Ct., 372 C.D. 2024 Petitioner Dismissal affirmed, May 28, 2025
Keefer v. Biden M.D. Pa., 1:24-cv-00147 Declarant (ECF 23), retained by plaintiffs’ counsel Terminated Mar. 26, 2024
Reschenthaler v. Schmidt M.D. Pa., 1:24-cv-01671 Her group’s HAVA petition attached as an exhibit (ECF 23-6) Terminated Oct. 29, 2024
American Oversight v. DHS D.D.C., 1:25-cv-03812 Subject of the FOIA requests Open as of retrieval
Democracy Forward Found. v. ICE D.D.C., 1:26-cv-03544, filed Oct. 9, 2026 Named as an external party and a “Team America” member (with David Harvilicz, Samantha Anderson, Thomas McDermott) whose records are sought Filed Oct. 9, 2026
United States v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania W.D. Pa., 2:25-cv-01481 Discussed in Common Cause intervenors’ brief (ECF 37) Terminated June 27, 2026

RECAP also returns her name in exhibits in DSCC v. Trump (D.D.C., 1:26-cv-01114) and in filings in United States v. Evans, United States v. Fontes, Democracy Forward Found. v. EAC and Democracy Forward Found. v. DOJ. Those documents were not read this session; the references are unverified leads. An earlier search returned 14 bankruptcy dockets belonging to other people with “Heather Honey” in their names. They are namesakes and are excluded. No criminal case against the subject was found. RECAP coverage is partial, so that is a statement about what was searched, not proof that no case exists.

Pattern Analysis

Cross-References

Honey’s career runs in one line: data claims about the 2020 election, then pressure campaigns and litigation against state election administration, then federal authority over the same subject. Each stage relied on Cleta Mitchell’s network: as a platform (the “Who’s Counting” podcast, EIN’s state coalitions), as a funder (FAIR grants to Verity Vote) and, after August 2025, as an audience for private briefings from inside DHS. Her associate Karen DiSalvo followed her into the same DHS office.

The distinctive harm of the federal phase is the data. As an activist, her errors cost fact-checkers and election officials time. As a DHS official, records she sourced feed a criminal-investigations unit with field agents.

Related profiles:

Related skills: malice-evaluator, election-threat-scoring, election-propaganda-ombudsman, accountability-profile-verification

Severity Assessment

Immediate harm: High — 48.4 million records of undisclosed origin feed active HSI investigations of voters and registration groups. DHS’s public noncitizen figures from the same project were conceded to be inflated, and SAVE has misidentified citizens. Democratic erosion: High — a DHS election role built to protect state infrastructure now carries movement claims into state–federal channels. Election officials in Arizona have cited reliability concerns in deciding not to contact DHS (Brennan Center). Authoritarian markers: advocacy of emergency powers to “mandate that states do things” without Congress; use of federal investigative power against civil-society voter-registration groups; private-network access to government; official assurances (no ICE at polls) later contradicted by policy.

Accountability Status

Current status: Active (serving as Senior Counselor to the Secretary of Homeland Security; reported senior adviser to the ICE director).

Legal exposure (questions for investigators, not allegations):

  • Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552a — whether the 48.4 million records entered a DHS system of records with the required notice, and whether any came from data brokers or private activist datasets.
  • Federal impartiality rules, 5 C.F.R. § 2635.502 — she was an officer of Mitchell’s FAIR fund through June 30, 2025, and her LLC received FAIR grants. Whether she obtained an ethics determination before briefing Mitchell’s EIN or acting on matters it lobbies on.
  • Hatch Act, 5 U.S.C. § 7323 — relevant if briefings to EIN, a partisan-aligned network, involved election outcomes. No evidence of a violation has been reported.

Congressional oversight:

  • Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs — DHS election role, Privacy Act compliance, HSI data use
  • House Homeland Security — CISA/SPP election-security posture
  • Senate Rules and Administration; House Administration — federal role in election administration
  • House Oversight — ethics and appointee conduct

Public accountability:

  • American Oversight v. DHS, D.D.C. 1:25-cv-03812 (FOIA, records on Honey)
  • Democracy Forward Found. v. ICE, D.D.C. 1:26-cv-03544 (FOIA, names Honey)
  • Democracy Forward’s FOIA program (source of the HSI documents)
  • Investigative coverage: ProPublica (Doug Bock Clark), Votebeat/Spotlight PA (Carter Walker), NPR (Jude Joffe-Block, Miles Parks), The New York Times (Alexandra Berzon, Nick Corasaniti), CNN (Gabe Cohen), Democracy Docket
  • Tracking: Brennan Center, Campaign Legal Center, American Oversight

Truth and Reconciliation Considerations

Investigation priorities

  1. Identify the “independent sources of information” behind the 48.4 million records, how Honey obtained them, and whether any came from EIN-affiliated activists, Verity Vote or ERI datasets, or commercial brokers.
  2. Establish what HSI did with the records: leads generated, people and groups investigated, and any wrongful flags of citizens.
  3. Reconstruct the content and attendance of her briefings to the Election Integrity Network since August 2025, and any non-public information shared.
  4. Determine whether her pre-government ties (FAIR officer, Verity Vote grantee, ERI co-founder) were disclosed on her OGE financial disclosure and screened by DHS ethics officials.
  5. Establish who decided to invite or facilitate Tina Peters’s contact with CISA, if Peters’s account is accurate.

Testimony value

Honey sits at the junction between the outside election-denial network and DHS’s investigative machinery. Compelled testimony could uniquely establish where the 48.4 million records came from, who in DHS and the White House directed the noncitizen-voter project, what the “Team America” group sought, and whether HSI’s targeting of voter-registration groups was driven by her network’s priorities.

Institutional reform

  • Statutorily define DHS’s election role as protective (infrastructure security, threat sharing) and bar its use for voter-eligibility investigations absent a predicated referral.
  • Require Privacy Act notice and an independent privacy review before any non-government dataset is ingested into an investigative system.
  • Extend the one-year impartiality screen on former employers and grantors to election-policy appointees, with a public waiver log.
  • Require DHS to disclose to states the source and methodology of any voter-roll match before it is publicized.

Open Questions and Research Leads

  • Read in full: ProPublica’s 2024 Georgia story, the NYT Oct. 22, 2025 article, ProPublica’s “Team America” reporting.
  • OGE Form 278e for Honey (request from DHS via OGE Form 201).
  • FAIR fund Form 990s (FY2024, FY2025) to confirm the Verity Vote payments and her officer listing.
  • Keefer v. Biden disposition and any Third Circuit appeal.
  • American Oversight v. DHS docket activity and any productions.
  • DSCC v. Trump exhibits that mention her.
  • The FOIA docket behind The New Republic’s “target districts” email.

Cross-References

Skills: malice-evaluator, election-threat-scoring, election-propaganda-ombudsman, accountability-profile-verification

Related profiles: David Harvilicz, Markwayne Mullin — DHS Secretary, Kimberley Vogt — FDNS Fraud Division Chief, USCIS, Cleta Mitchell — Political Accountability Profile

Topics: DHS election integrity, noncitizen voting, voter rolls, HSI, SAVE, Election Integrity Network, ERIC, Pennsylvania 2020, cast vote records, UOCAVA, Team America

Investigative Trail Pointers

  • Senate Judiciary Committee: Donoghue exhibits — full Dec. 2020 Pennsylvania “voter deficit” package forwarded by Rep. Perry to DOJ
  • Democracy Forward: HSI weekly reports and the June 1, 2026 data report — the 48.4 million-record attribution
  • CourtListener: American Oversight v. DHS (1:25-cv-03812) and Democracy Forward v. ICE (1:26-cv-03544) — watch for productions
  • Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court / Supreme Court: 1512 C.D. 2023, 372 C.D. 2024, 79 MAP 2024 — reproduced records list her filings
  • ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer: FAIR fund Form 990s — Verity Vote grants and officer listing
  • OPM FedScope / DHS org charts: titles and dates for Honey and Karen DiSalvo

Factual correction requests: If you believe information in this profile is incorrect, please contact factcheck@citizenanalyst.ai with your name (optional), the specific claim, and any supporting documentation. We review all submissions and correct verified errors promptly.

Sources

Primary records

  1. Senate Judiciary Committee, Donoghue Exhibit 7, email chain Dec. 22–27, 2020. https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/donoghue-exhibit-7
  2. Senate Judiciary Committee report on the pressure campaign against DOJ (GovInfo). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-Y4_J89_2-PURL-gpo161145/pdf/GOVPUB-Y4_J89_2-PURL-gpo161145.pdf
  3. Honey v. Lycoming Cnty. Offices of Voter Servs., Pa. Supreme Ct., No. 79 MAP 2024, Apr. 28, 2026. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10849125/honey-h-v-lycoming-co-offices-of-voter-svcs/
  4. Honey v. Lycoming Cnty. Offices of Voter Servs., Pa. Commw. Ct., No. 57 C.D. 2023, Mar. 4, 2024. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/9480633/h-honey-v-lycoming-county-offices-of-voter-services-appeal-of-al/
  5. PA Fair Elections v. Pa. Dep’t of State, Pa. Commw. Ct., No. 1512 C.D. 2023, May 2, 2025. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10458279/pa-fair-elections-h-honey-v-pa-dos-oor/
  6. PA Fair Elections v. Pa. Dep’t of State, Pa. Commw. Ct., No. 372 C.D. 2024, May 28, 2025. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10593672/pa-fair-elections-v-pa-dos-secy-of-the-com-a-schmidt/
  7. Keefer v. Biden, M.D. Pa., No. 1:24-cv-00147, ECF No. 23, Feb. 16, 2024. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68193172/23/keefer-v-biden/
  8. Reschenthaler v. Schmidt, M.D. Pa., No. 1:24-cv-01671. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69217417/reschenthaler-v-schmidt/
  9. American Oversight v. DHS, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-03812, Complaint, Oct. 30, 2025. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71817485/american-oversight-v-us-department-of-homeland-security/
  10. Democracy Forward Found. v. ICE, D.D.C., No. 1:26-cv-03544, Complaint, Oct. 9, 2026. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74943137/democracy-forward-foundation-v-us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement/
  11. United States v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, W.D. Pa., No. 2:25-cv-01481, ECF No. 37, Oct. 9, 2025. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71453026/37/united-states-v-commonwealth-of-pennsylvania/
  12. Congressional Record, vol. 171, no. 180, S7811. https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-171/issue-180/senate-section/article/S7811-1
  13. Democracy Forward, “In the Records: Exposing and Disrupting Federal Attempts to Interfere in the 2026 Midterm Elections,” Oct. 2026 (reproduces HSI and state records). https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/In-the-Records_Exposing-and-Disrupting-Federal-Attempts-to-Interfere-in-the-2026-Midterm-Elections.pdf

Reporting

  1. ProPublica, Doug Bock Clark, “Heather Honey, an Election Denier, Will Help Oversee Election Security at the DHS,” Aug. 2025. https://www.propublica.org/article/heather-honey-dhs-election-security
  2. ProPublica, “Inside Trump’s Effort to ‘Take Over’ the Midterm Elections,” 2026. https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-midterm-elections-takeover
  3. ProPublica, “8 Things to Know About Trump’s Effort to ‘Take Over’ Midterm Elections,” 2026 (captured in _sources/). https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-midterm-elections-takeover-takeaways
  4. ProPublica, “How Trump’s Unprecedented Effort to Prosecute Noncitizen Voters Fell Apart,” 2026. https://www.propublica.org/article/noncitizen-voting-trump-homeland-security-investigations
  5. Politico, “Researcher who has distorted voter data appointed to Homeland Security election integrity role,” Aug. 26, 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/26/dhs-election-security-2020-election-conspiracy-00527453
  6. Votebeat/Spotlight PA (via WHYY), Carter Walker, “This Pa. activist is the source of false and flawed election claims gaining traction across the country,” Feb. 13, 2024. https://whyy.org/articles/pennsylvania-heather-honey-donald-trump-election-integrity-eric-analysis
  7. Spotlight PA, “False election claims tied to PA activist Heather Honey,” Feb. 2024. https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2024/02/pennsylvania-heather-honey-donald-trump-election-integrity-eric-analysis
  8. Spotlight PA, Carter Walker, “Efforts to challenge Pennsylvania voters’ mail ballot applications fizzle,” Nov. 8, 2024. https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2024/11/mail-ballot-application-challenges-pennsylvania-fair-elections/
  9. Philadelphia Inquirer, Katie Bernard, “Her misinformation about Pa. elections in 2020 reached Trump. Now she holds an ‘elections integrity’ post at DHS,” Aug. 2025. https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/heather-honey-department-homeland-security-elections-integrity-20250826.html
  10. The New York Times, Alexandra Berzon and Nick Corasaniti, “Trump Empowers Election Deniers, Still Fixated on 2020 Grievances,” Oct. 22, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/us/politics/trump-election-deniers-voting-security.html
  11. The New York Times, Oct. 7, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/07/us/politics/trump-voter-registration-noncitizens-investigation.html
  12. CNN, Gabe Cohen and Jeremy Herb, “ICE reviewed tens of millions of voter records looking for noncitizen voters, records show,” Oct. 7, 2026. https://www.cnn.com/2026/10/07/politics/dhs-ice-voter-fraud-investigation-undercover
  13. NPR, Jude Joffe-Block and Miles Parks, “DHS acknowledges the noncitizen numbers it touted on voter rolls were inflated,” Aug. 25, 2026. https://www.npr.org/2026/08/25/nx-s1-5940807/noncitizen-voters-trump-nevada-call
  14. Votebeat, “ICE won’t be at polling places in 2026 election, Trump administration official says,” Feb. 26, 2026. https://www.votebeat.org/2026/02/26/ice-agents-polling-places-2026-midterm-elections-heather-honey-election-official-meeting
  15. Democracy Docket, Brentin Mock, “Election denier Cleta Mitchell granted DHS elections official Heather Honey a lot of money.” https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/election-denier-cleta-mitchell-granted-dhs-elections-official-heather-honey-a-lot-of-money
  16. Democracy Docket, Matt Cohen and Yunior Rivas, “Exclusive: Another election denial leader, hired by DHS, drafted letter threatening states over voting audits.” https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/exclusive-another-election-denial-leader-hired-by-dhs-drafted-letter-threatening-states-over-voting-audits
  17. Brennan Center for Justice, “Why Future Federal Reports on Election Security May Be Unreliable.” https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/why-future-federal-reports-election-security-may-be-unreliable
  18. American Oversight, “The Campaign to Dismantle ERIC.” https://americanoversight.org/resource/the-campaign-to-dismantle-eric
  19. American Oversight, “American Oversight Sues for Records on Trump-Appointed Election Denier Heather Honey.” https://americanoversight.org/press-release/american-oversight-sues-for-records-on-trump-appointed-election-denier-heather-honey
  20. NBC News, Jane C. Timm, “Conservative voter fraud hunters pitch new computer programs to state officials.” https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/conservative-voter-fraud-hunters-pitch-new-programs-state-officials-rcna263738
  21. The Independent, “Trump’s ‘election integrity’ chief claimed president has future powers to declare voting emergency.” https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-election-emergency-heather-honey-b2850270.html
  22. The New Republic, “DHS Email Sparks Alarm About What Feds Will Do on Election Day,” Sept. 18, 2026. https://newrepublic.com/post/215577/dhs-email-target-districts-plan-election-day
  23. Media Matters, Alex Kaplan, “Key election denial activists in the right-wing media ecosystem,” Oct. 1, 2026. https://www.mediamatters.org/election-denial-voter-fraud-and-suppression/key-election-denial-activists-right-wing-media-0
  24. Al Jazeera, “Trump loyalist who pushed false election claims takes on government role,” Aug. 26, 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/26/trump-loyalist-who-pushed-false-election-claims-takes-on-government-role

Last Updated: 2026-10-10 Profile Status: Active monitoring Next Review: Monthly (active midterm-season coverage)

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