A far-right election researcher who fueled a number of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election has been appointed to a crucial role in the Department of Homeland Security overseeing election integrity.
Heather Honey, whose false findings were widely cited by President Donald Trump and his allies as they sought to retain power following Trump’s loss to Joe Biden, is now serving as deputy assistant secretary for election integrity.
The new role, which did not exist during Joe Biden’s administration, is part of the Office of Strategy, Policy and Plans, according to the agency’s website.
Before being appointed earlier this month to DHS, as Democracy Docket first reported Tuesday, Honey had been running an independent consulting firm called Haystack Investigations, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also founded PA Fair Elections, a group that was reportedly behind efforts to remove voters from the rolls in the state.
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DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NOTUS.
The hiring is the latest move by Trump that suggests he may intervene in future elections after his unsuccessful effort to subvert the 2020 race.
Honey also worked with Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who played a role in trying to overturn the 2020 election and spoke on the infamous call in which Trump demanded that Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state of Georgia, “find” him 11,780 votes.
In 2020, Honey misinterpreted incomplete voter data from Pennsylvania, falsely alleging that there were more votes in the state than there were voters. The claim was repeated by Trump in a speech just hours before his supporters marched to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Honey also said she was part of the Republican-led election audit in Maricopa County, Arizona, in 2021. The audit was held after Arizona’s vote tallies were officially counted, in an unsuccessful attempt to find election fraud.
This appointment comes as Trump has openly pushed Republicans leaders in Texas and other states to redraw more favorable congressional maps in an effort to create additional GOP-friendly districts. Republicans in the Texas Legislature successfully passed a new congressional map this month at the president’s behest. The state’s new map is expected to set off a chain reaction of redistricting in California and other Democratic-led states.
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