The Department of Homeland Security has created a Deputy Assistant Secretary for Election Integrity position and filled it with Pennsylvania researcher Heather Honey, according to an organisational chart dated 18 August. Honey, whose work questioning the 2020 vote count was repeatedly cited by President Donald Trump, now sits inside DHS’s Office of Strategy, Policy and Plans, giving her a role in shaping federal policy on election security and access. Honey became prominent after asserting—using incomplete data—that Pennsylvania recorded 205,000 more votes than voters in 2020, a claim Trump echoed before the 6 January Capitol riot. She later took part in the Arizona Senate’s partisan review of ballots in Maricopa County and led Verity Vote, which alleged without evidence that the state of Pennsylvania mailed roughly 250,000 ballots to unverified voters. Election officials in both states said her analyses were methodologically flawed. State election administrators and outside specialists warn the appointment could strain cooperation with DHS. Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes called Honey’s selection “deeply troubling,” while David Becker of the Center for Election Innovation and Research said the move caps a broader rollback of DHS election-security programmes, including cuts to CISA staff and the dismantling of foreign-influence monitoring. Critics fear the department may now amplify, rather than counter, disinformation as the administration presses states to drop mail ballots and overhaul voting technology, under threat of withholding up to $28 million in preparedness grants.