China already hacked NASA, the Senate, and the Federal Reserve this week.
Now DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin is telling America that the machines counting your votes have parts made in the same country running those attacks.
But Markwayne Mullin just ordered every state to start auditing paper ballots by hand – and what Dominion admitted to Congress explains exactly why.
The Big Three Said It Under Oath
In 2020, the CEOs of Dominion, ES&S, and Hart InterCivic sat before the House Administration Committee and admitted it on the record.
Their voting machines contain parts made in China.
Dominion's CEO told lawmakers his company sources components from China because "in some cases, there are simply no alternative suppliers."
Those three companies control more than 80% of American election systems.
Mullin's letter to the White House Transparency Task Force this week spelled out what that means in plain English: "Voting machines with components manufactured by foreign adversaries introduce significant security risks."
https://twitter.com/C__Herridge/status/2092939583910469986?s=20
He continued: "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."
That's not speculation.
That's the DHS Secretary describing exactly how China operates – because this week the Justice Department seized two hacking platforms that Chinese state-sponsored operators used in a yearslong campaign targeting the U.S. Senate, NASA, the Federal Reserve, and, as recently as June 2026, an American election system.
Democrats Knew Too – They Just Stopped Caring
Democrats used to be furious about this.
In 2017, Senate Democrats sent letters to all three voting machine companies demanding answers about their cybersecurity practices.
In December 2019, four Democratic lawmakers wrote to the private equity firms owning the election vendors, demanding they disclose ownership structures and election security investments.
Those same Democrats went completely silent the moment their party controlled the White House.
The Biden administration's own Intelligence Community assessed in 2024 that China was "the most active and persistent cyber threat" to the United States – and that China, Russia, and Iran had "the technical capability to access some U.S. election-related networks and systems."
Biden did nothing.
Mullin is doing something.
https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/2092951898126942639?s=20
Starting with the midterms, states must conduct random manual audits of at least 5% of all paper ballots to receive full Homeland Security Grant Program funding.
States must also reconcile the number of voters with the number of ballots cast and use DHS's SAVE system to verify voter citizenship.
China Has Had Twenty Years to Prepare
This isn't a new threat – it's a threat that was ignored for two decades.
U.S. intelligence flagged Venezuela's plans to electronically manipulate its own voting machines as early as 2004 and warned by 2006 that those same techniques could be turned on American elections.
Five foreign powers – China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and Venezuela – have been assessed since 2020 as possessing the ability to hack American voting machines.
China also obtained 220 million American voter registration files through buying, stealing, or hacking – some including non-public data that intelligence chiefs later called "election interference."
https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/2092976672148451473?s=20
Chuck Schumer's response this week to Mullin's audit order was four words posted to X: "They are losing."
He didn't mean China.
He has said nothing about Chinese parts.
He has said nothing about the 220 million stolen voter files.
Tell that to the Dominion CEO who told Congress under oath that Chinese suppliers were the only option.
Sources:
- Steven Richards, "Homeland Security Warns of Chinese Parts in Election Machines, Will Require Paper Ballot Audits," Just the News, August 27, 2026.
- Catherine Salgado, "DHS Secretary Says Chinese Parts in Voting Machines Necessitate Audit," PJ Media, August 27, 2026.
- Bob Hoge, "Voting Machines Are 'Perfect' – Except for Those Pesky China-Made Parts, DHS Warns," RedState, August 27, 2026.
- Jim Hoft, "DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin Orders Mandatory Random Paper Ballot Audits for 2026 Midterms," The Gateway Pundit, August 27, 2026.
- Eric Geller and David Jones, "Federal Authorities Disrupt China-Backed Hacking Operation Targeting US Critical Infrastructure," Cybersecurity Dive, August 27, 2026.
- Department of Justice, "Justice Department and FBI Seize Platforms Operated and Used by China State-Sponsored Hackers to Target U.S. Critical Infrastructure," August 27, 2026.
- DHS, "DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin Sends Letters to Secretaries of State Warning About Non-Citizens on Voter Rolls," July 17, 2026.
