Pennsylvania Supreme Court Hands 2020 Election Data to DHS Official Known for Spreading Fraud Lies

In a stunning decision that threatens election integrity, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered Lycoming County election officials to turn over digital copies of every vote cast in the 2020 election to Heather Honey. Honey is not just any citizen — she is the deputy assistant secretary for elections integrity at the Department of Homeland Security and a longtime promoter of debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 vote.

Honey’s request dates back to 2021, when she was still an anti-voting activist in Pennsylvania. She sought access to raw voting data in Lycoming County, claiming the public should be able to “check the math” of local election offices. The county initially denied the request, citing state election code protections. But after Honey appealed, the state’s highest court sided with her, arguing that disclosure would boost public trust and transparency without violating voter secrecy.

This ruling is a gift to election deniers and far-right activists who have made a cottage industry out of mining raw election data to manufacture false claims of widespread fraud. Honey herself founded Pennsylvania Fair Elections, a group allied with the Cleta Mitchell-led Election Integrity Network, known for pushing baseless allegations. She has repeatedly claimed—without evidence—that Pennsylvania’s 2020 vote count was inflated, echoing President Trump’s incendiary rhetoric that helped trigger the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

Honey also played a role in the notorious, widely discredited Cyber Ninjas audit of Maricopa County’s 2020 election results in Arizona, which sparked an FBI investigation. Now, armed with official access to raw voting data, Honey and like-minded operatives could weaponize this information to fuel more misinformation campaigns.

The dangers are not hypothetical. In Riverside County, California, Sheriff Chad Bianco seized hundreds of thousands of ballots in a redistricting election after an anti-voting group—granted access to raw data—raised false fraud alarms. Local officials said the group misunderstood the data they analyzed, but the damage to public trust was already done.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Christine Donohue, writing for the majority, insisted that disclosure “promotes fair, honest, and transparent elections” and “boosts confidence in electoral integrity.” But in an era when election denialism is a direct threat to democracy, handing over raw voting data to known conspiracy theorists does the opposite. It undermines trust by giving bad actors the tools to spread lies and suppress voter participation.

This ruling is not just a loss for election security in Pennsylvania — it sets a dangerous national precedent. As DHS continues to be infiltrated by officials with extremist views, the risk that federal resources and data will be used to legitimize false election fraud claims grows. We must stay vigilant and demand accountability before these conspiracies irreparably damage our democracy.