GEOFF BENNETT: President Trump has continued to perpetuate the lie that the 2020 presidential election was rigged in favor of Joe Biden, posting on his social media platform just last night that it was -- quote -- "an illegal scam/hoax."

Since he reentered the White House, the president has suggested his administration will crack down on mail ballots and, as Liz Landers reports, take a closer look at state voting systems ahead of next year's midterm election.

LIZ LANDERS: Last month, the Justice Department sued Pennsylvania and seven other states for refusing to turn over personal voter data in their statewide voter registration lists.

Joining me now is Al Schmidt,the Pennsylvania secretary of the commonwealth, who is the state's top election official.

Mr.

Secretary, the voter list that the Department of Justice is suing to get from you all include information like date of birth and the last four digits of Social Security numbers.

You have offered to give the Department of Justice publicly available voter files.

Why won't you turn over this additional information that they're asking for?

AL SCHMIDT, Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth: The Department of Justice is welcome to the public information that we make available, according to the Pennsylvania laws, for 8.8 million registered voters.

What we will not provide is the Social Security numbers or driver's license numbers.

And that's because it's at odds with state law, it's at odds with federal law, and it's at odds with our Constitution here in Pennsylvania.

LIZ LANDERS: What are your concerns with turning over that kind of voter information?

What could happen with that you're worried about?

AL SCHMIDT: Well, it's very sensitive information.

And I do a lot of events all over the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

And one thing that I have heard from Democrats and Republicans alike is gratitude for not providing all this sensitive information to the federal government.

But, really, it's not something worthy of a compliment.

Our laws prohibit us from providing that information to the federal government.

Even if we wanted to, in this administration or any other, our laws would prohibit us from doing so.

LIZ LANDERS: So you're saying it would be illegal for you to turn this over?

AL SCHMIDT: It would be not legal, for sure, for us to turn this over.

And that is why we denied the request from the Department of Justice.

The interaction has in no way been hostile, from our perspective.

We are willing to share everything that is publicly available with the Department of Justice.

LIZ LANDERS: Reading through this complaint that the department filed back in September for Pennsylvania, they write that: "The commonwealth does not appear to have any process in place to make any determination about whether there are noncitizens on the voter rolls."

That's the allegation from the Department of Justice.

Is that true?

AL SCHMIDT: That is factually inaccurate.

Our system in Pennsylvania, with automatic voter registration, which was implemented by the Shapiro administration, prevents noncitizens from ever interfacing with the voter registration process when getting a driver's license, if they are eligible, in Pennsylvania.

In addition, if someone applies using, let's say, a paper application, they are swearing and affirming under penalty of federal perjury charges, prosecution and deportation that they are eligible to register to vote in Pennsylvania.

And it's the same in many other states as well.

LIZ LANDERS: Is there a process that the secretary's office goes through to clean up the voter rolls?

AL SCHMIDT: Every election in Pennsylvania is subject to two audits after every election conducted at the county level to make sure that the results are accurate.

So I can assure you that we take election integrity very seriously.

We appreciate the government's -- the federal government's interest in all this, but I have been an election commissioner in the largest county in Pennsylvania for more than 10 years when I was city commissioner of Philadelphia.

And I assure you, as a Republican election commissioner, I take election integrity allegations very seriously.

I have investigated hundreds of cases to determine whether voters are eligible or not and, when warranted, refer them to federal, state or local law enforcement for further investigation and, when warranted, prosecution.

LIZ LANDERS: Your role is a nonpartisan role, but you are a Republican.

And Republicans are historically the party of small government.

Is this kind of action that the Department of Justice taking right now, is that the kind of action that a Republican administration should be taking?

AL SCHMIDT: And I think that's a great question, Liz, and that might be why you haven't seen any daylight between different states when it comes to these requests from the Department of Justice and whether they are responding and providing their voters' sensitive personal information or not.

It's really not a red state or blue state thing.

It is a -- in my view, a concerning attempt, a concerning effort to consolidate and overreach at the federal level.

In the United States of America, it's the states who run elections, not the federal government.

LIZ LANDERS: Pennsylvania has long been a target of President Trump's back in 2020 and also in 2024.

He has falsely said that the state has had election fraud in those elections.

Are you worried that the president may send in the National Guard to voting locations in next year's midterm elections?

AL SCHMIDT: It's really not a matter of worrying.

It's a matter of preparing to make sure elections are run smoothly in Pennsylvania.

I ran elections in Philadelphia in 2020.

We were on the receiving end of an avalanche of threats and federal efforts to do this and that.

It's really just a matter of making sure that you're prepared to make sure that elections run smoothly and to not even open the window for any of those excuses or nonsense to interfere with election administration or to try to put their thumb on the scale of the results.

All that matters is the outcome determined by the voters, and nobody else.

LIZ LANDERS: Final question for you, Mr.

Secretary.

You mentioned threats.

I know that you have received threats personally, your family did, after the 2020 election.

Are you concerned that he may try to go after you in a criminal way for certifying that election in 2020?

AL SCHMIDT: If you do everything in accordance with a law, you have no reason to be concerned.

And I have no reason to be concerned, because the Shapiro administration and the Pennsylvania Department of State have done everything to make sure that elections are run right in Pennsylvania.

LIZ LANDERS: Al Schmidt, secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, thank you so much for joining "News Hour."

I appreciate it.

AL SCHMIDT: Thank you.