Matt Crane says he is actively discouraging counties from sharing voter data or other security information with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The Colorado election administrator said he no longer trusts how the federal government is using the data, or whether it will stay confidential.
Crane told NPR: “I'm actively discouraging it” and added, “I don't trust how the administration is using that data. I don't trust that they're going to keep it confidential. And so I can't in good conscience advocate that any of my counties do any work with them right now.”
Colorado Counties and DHS
Crane runs the professional organization for local election officials in Colorado. He also said, “These are not trusted partners anymore,” and described the federal government as one that has “brought the fox into the henhouse.”
The refusal is rooted in how the Trump administration has approached election administration. The administration has taken states to court to get private voter registration data, and it has tried to access voting machines and ballots, succeeding in some cases. Those steps have made election administrators more cautious about what they hand over now.
Heather Honey and Elections
Crane said the current DHS point person for elections is Heather Honey, and he said she has a long history of spreading election misinformation. That leaves local officials facing a federal contact they do not view as neutral while the 2024 election is still ahead.
The concern is not limited to Colorado. Numerous local election officials told NPR they are avoiding sharing voter data or other security information with the federal government because they fear it could be used against them in some way.
Markwayne Mullin and 2020
The distrust also sits beside Markwayne Mullin’s record on the 2020 U.S. election. On Jan. 2, 2021, he wrote online that “due to all of the fraud and uncertainty surrounding the 2020 election there is no way I can vote to certify the Electoral College,” and four days later he was one of 147 congressional Republicans who voted not to certify after the Capitol was overrun.
That background matters for the role Mullin now holds, because he is now head of the Department of Homeland Security. Crane’s warning leaves counties with a practical choice: keep sharing election-related data with a federal department they do not trust, or withhold it and protect what they believe could be turned against them during the 2024 election.
The next step is not a new filing or a vote; it is whether local election offices continue cutting off access to data while DHS keeps pressing into election administration. For counties, the decision now is simple and immediate: who gets the data, and who does not.
