Reporting Reveals Trump’s Expanding Push to Control Elections

WHO:

CNN - Attorney General Todd Blanche said the DOJ had no plans to contest election results in any state, but declined to rule it out: “Of course, I’m not going to say that.”

CNN - Republican election lawyer Ben Ginsberg called Trump’s $1 million election-fraud tip rewards “performance art right before the election,” saying, “If there was evidence of fraud, uh, they would have found it already.”

CNN - Former Attorney General Eric Holder said election-fraud allegations were intended to discourage people from trusting the system, registering to vote and voting.

ABC News - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said the Justice Department’s list contained U.S. citizens and people who were not registered to vote, and criticized the list’s lack of supporting documentation.

ProPublica - Cleta Mitchell said of ProPublica, “You’re my opponent. … You’re never going to write in any objective, non-judgmental way about the election integrity movement.”

ProPublica - A White House official said President Trump “reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted.”

ProPublica - White House spokesperson Lauren Bis denied that the administration had improperly interfered with the U.S. Postal Service.

ProPublica - ProPublica reported that Cleta Mitchell, who leads the Election Integrity Network, helped shape the administration’s election agenda despite having no formal White House role. The White House appointed her associates to help find alleged noncitizen voters and investigate claims of 2020 voting fraud.

ProPublica - A White House spokesperson said, “President Trump has done more than any other President to ensure we have free and fair elections.”

The Daily Beast - Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter sent election-records letters to state election offices.

Alternet - Attorney General Todd Blanche personally signed criminal charging documents in four Nevada misdemeanor cases alleging voting by noncitizens; former federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah said, “The Attorney General himself signing a criminal information is extremely rare if it has even ever been done before.”

Democracy Docket - The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic Governors Association, Nevada State Democratic Party, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, and a naturalized California voter are plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the administration.

Alternet - President Donald Trump, his administration, congressional Republicans and Democrats, Rep. Jim Himes, and Lawrence Norden of the Brennan Center are discussed in connection with election control and election-interference concerns.

ProPublica - Trump administration officials, the Justice Department (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), U.S. Postal Service (USPS), Election Assistance Commission, and election officials are involved in the reported actions.

ProPublica - At least 75 nonpartisan career officials in federal roles related to election integrity and safety were fired or left government; two dozen Trump appointees were hired, and at least 25 administration appointees had close ties to Cleta Mitchell.

Alternet - Miles Taylor, who served as Homeland Security deputy chief of staff in Trump’s first administration, described his warnings about a second Trump term and predicted further steps if Republicans retain control of Congress.

ABC News Politics - Trump is signaling to states that federal help may be less likely if their voters elect Democrats.

WHAT:

CNN - Trump directed the DOJ to investigate Rep. Ilhan Omar’s ability to be seated in the next Congress and to get involved in Alaska’s Senate race; the DOJ opened a criminal probe into how a second candidate named Dan Sullivan got onto Alaska’s ballot.

CNN - Alaska’s Republican governor said he might not certify the election results. Ginsberg said the second candidate’s presence was “remarkably politically clumsy and embarrassing” for Mary Peltola’s campaign, but added, “there’s not an illegality here.”

CNN - Trump’s administration more than doubled the number of federal election monitors compared with the most recent midterm election, deploying more than 1,000 across all 50 states.

CNN - Trump said he would respect election results “if they are honest elections, yeah.”

CNN - House Speaker Mike Johnson said certified winners would be seated and that there would be “a peaceful transfer.”

CNN - The Republican National Committee planned to increase its monitoring of polling places.

Alternet - Democrats prepared prewritten lawsuits and coordinated with state and local counterparts to respond if election results were challenged; the Associated Press reported plans for a large presence at polling places by Democrats and outside watchdogs.

CNN - The Justice Department alleged that about 400 possible noncitizens in Washington state had cast 1,500 ballots in past elections.

CNN - President Trump offered $1 million rewards for tips leading to election-fraud convictions.

CNN - The administration planned to send more than 1,000 election monitors to all 50 states—more than twice the number deployed during the most recent midterm election.

CNN - FBI Director Kash Patel declined to rule out FBI agents at polling places, saying, “I don’t know that we can’t legally do it.” He said election crisis coordinators would be stationed at all 56 FBI field offices.

CNN - Speaker Mike Johnson said certified winners would be seated, adding, “I may not like some of those outcomes, but that’s our system.”

Alternet - Democrats prepared lawsuits and coordinated with state and local counterparts to respond to efforts to challenge election results; the Associated Press reported plans for a large presence at polling places by Democrats and outside watchdogs.

ABC News - Los Angeles County officials said nearly 40% of a preliminary sample of 200 people on the federal list appeared to have been born in the United States, while 71.2% had no voting history.

ABC News - Butte County election official Keaton Denlay said 32 of 47 names supplied by federal prosecutors were not on the county’s active voter rolls; seven more could not be matched confidently because of insufficient information.

ABC News - Nevada County officials said their review of 10 names found no evidence of noncitizen voting in the November 3, 2026 election.

ABC News - The Justice Department initially accused California of having more than 190,000 noncitizen voters on its rolls; the figure was reduced to 20,000 before the department sued the state.

ABC News - The Justice Department said it had charged roughly 200 people nationwide with illegal voting or unlawful voter-registration-related offenses.

ABC News - Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar said federal officials’ figures went from 15,903 alleged noncitizens to 185 and then zero from Nevada’s perspective; DHS later claimed it had manually confirmed about 2,000 more people from the same list.

ProPublica - The Postal Service’s processing changes endangered the validity of ballots cast in rural areas, according to ProPublica’s analysis.

ProPublica - The Supreme Court’s order left states to decide their own mail-ballot rules for the midterm elections.

Alternet - Trump’s July speech included claims that intelligence officials concealed alleged Chinese election interference.

Democracy Docket - DOJ said it challenged more than 20,000 voters in California and more than 400 in Washington.

The Daily Beast - McCotter’s letters reminded election officials to retain federal-election records, including voter registration forms, pollbooks, precinct sign-in sheets and ballots; they also cited a prohibition on willfully stealing, destroying, concealing, mutilating or altering records.

ProPublica - Some state election officials said CISA provided little help with 2026 midterm preparations; others said they no longer trusted the agency and feared it had been compromised.

Alternet - Miles Taylor predicted Trump would seek to prosecute governors, members of Congress, donors, organizers and protesters, and predicted the administration would target the free press and seek greater control over the Federal Reserve.

Alternet - Nevada authorities determined that all 185 people previously identified by DHS as alleged noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls were citizens.

Alternet - The Nevada voting cases were charged by criminal information, not grand-jury indictment. The article reports that courts have dismissed cases involving prosecutors appointed through processes lacking Senate confirmation, including cases signed by appointees later found unlawfully appointed.

Democracy Docket - The administration disclosed that DHS sent election-related letters to California, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, while DOJ sent letters to California and Washington. The disclosure did not identify the total number of voters challenged.

Democracy Docket - DOJ said it sent every state letters reminding officials to preserve federal election records for 22 months, warning that willful failure to comply can bring up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Democracy Docket - DOJ said it withheld informal oral communications with states and excluded communications not consistent with its letters to California election officials.

Democracy Docket - Democrats allege the administration’s pressure campaign violates the Voting Rights Act and sought an order barring further actions against states.

Alternet - Trump claimed China obtained 220 million U.S. voter records, including records from 18 states, and tried to produce fraudulent ballots for Joe Biden in 2020. The article says there is no evidence China manipulated votes or changed that election’s outcome.

Alternet - Himes said, “We start with the premise that the president is going to do that,” referring to potential efforts to challenge election results. He added, “We have never seen an operation to actually interfere.” Norden said, “The new threat in this election is the administration,” and noted that paper backups exist for almost every U.S. vote.

ProPublica - DOJ has sued 30 states and the District of Columbia for unredacted voter rolls containing confidential information about millions of Americans. Every lawsuit decided by a federal judge had been dismissed; the administration appealed most losses and said it might ask the Supreme Court to intervene.

ProPublica - DOJ data showed 41 alleged noncitizens charged with illegal voting or other election-related crimes as of May; CBS later reported 156 people charged since the second Trump administration began.

ProPublica - The Supreme Court blocked Trump’s mail-voting rules pending further action. The rules would have put USPS in the position of deciding whether to deliver mail ballots.

ProPublica - Trump’s 2026 SAVE America Act would require nationwide proof of citizenship to register, photo ID to vote, and states to provide voter rolls to DHS. The bill was blocked in the Senate.

ProPublica - DHS political appointees asked CISA to obtain and hack a voting machine and send findings to the White House. CISA employees said the request was impossible in part because capable personnel had been laid off.

ProPublica - The White House proposed requiring all ballots to be delivered by certified mail, which would require voters to be home to sign. USPS said the plan was too difficult to execute, and the administration dropped it.

ProPublica - USPS processing changes added a day or more to delivery times and delayed postmarks; ProPublica found the effects in five states were greatest in areas that voted for Trump in 2024.

Alternet - Taylor said DOJ had issued grand jury subpoenas to California and Washington election officials in an effort to cancel 20,000 mail ballots from voters it called noncitizens; a judge blocked the request.

Alternet - Taylor predicted possible ballot seizures, prosecutions of critics, use of emergency powers, and troops policing major cities by summer 2027. He said Trump had warned there would be “no more court cases, there is no more anything” if he invoked the Insurrection Act.

Alternet - Taylor warned that proposed voting restrictions, voter-roll purges, weakened mail voting, and pressure on election officials could undermine certification of the 2028 election.

WHERE:

Alternet - The four misdemeanor voting cases involving Todd Blanche were in Nevada; the article says the state’s U.S. attorney’s office was being run by first assistant U.S. attorney and special attorney Sigal Chattah.

Alternet - Trump’s claims concerned voter records in the United States and alleged activity by China.

ProPublica - Mail-delivery effects were analyzed in Washington, California, Ohio, North Carolina, and Oregon; the report also described litigation involving 30 states and the District of Columbia.

Alternet - The subpoenas described by Taylor involved election officials in California and Washington.

WHEN:

Alternet - Democrats identified the period between November 3 and January 1, 2027, before the new Congress is seated, as a potential period of risk.

ProPublica - The Postal Service’s mail-ballot rules were blocked at least until after November.

Democracy Docket - Judge James Boasberg planned to rule on the groups’ request for a temporary restraining order by Monday.

ProPublica - The article described an executive order issued in March, changes at the Election Assistance Commission in July, and USPS rules blocked in September.

Alternet - Taylor predicted that troops could police major American cities “by the summer of 2027” and discussed the 2028 election.

ProPublica - USPS leaders said delays were less likely in the Nov. 3 general election because the agency planned “extraordinary measures.”

WHY:

Alternet - The article said that polls showed frustration over rising costs and declining confidence in Trump’s ability to improve the economy.

Alternet - Experts warned that allegations of foreign interference could discredit legitimate results and reduce public confidence.

ProPublica - The administration said its election actions aimed to make elections fairer and more secure and prevent prohibited voting.

ProPublica - USPS said certified-mail delivery would be too difficult to execute.

HOW:

CNN - Federal law prohibits deploying the military or armed federal agents to polling places. CNN reported that DOJ election monitors are assigned to observe how states oversee polling places and voter access, and are barred from interrupting voting.

CNN - Trump said he would respect election results “if they are honest elections.” CNN reported that he had not declared a national emergency to federalize elections and that his effort to use USPS rules to restrict mail voting had been blocked.

ABC News - The Justice Department asked California county election officials to identify, within 48 hours, which people on accompanying lists were citizens and which were not.

ProPublica - ProPublica reported that the Trump administration’s HSI effort used personnel, technology and legal authority to investigate Trump’s unproven claim that noncitizen voting was tilting elections toward Democrats.

ProPublica - Trump dismissed the remaining members of the bipartisan, four-member Election Assistance Commission, whose board is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats and sets standards for state voting systems.

ProPublica - The administration sought federal control through voter-roll demands, changes to mail-ballot rules, personnel changes, and requests to CISA.

ProPublica - USPS consolidated first-class mail processing into regional hubs and cut mail pickups in half at many post offices at least 50 miles from those facilities.

Alternet - Taylor said Trump could use prosecutions, emergency powers, legislation, and control over voter registration and mail voting to consolidate power.

(UPDATED October 31, 2026 14:57 UTC)

States dispute Justice Department claims of noncitizen voting as election investigations draw scrutiny. President Trump is deploying federal monitors and offering rewards for fraud tips. Attorney General Blanche declined to rule out contesting results; Speaker Johnson promised certified winners would serve.

(UPDATED October 31, 2026 11:57 UTC)

Washington officials say federal voter lists wrongly flag citizens and unregistered people. Nevada found all 185 people DHS identified were citizens. The administration plans nationwide election monitoring as Democrats prepare legal challenges.

(UPDATED October 31, 2026 03:59 UTC)

State reviews found federal voter lists included citizens, unregistered people, and errors. Nevada confirmed all 185 people flagged as noncitizens were citizens. Democrats and a California voter sued over the administration’s election pressure campaign.

(UPDATED October 31, 2026 01:58 UTC)

The administration’s election agenda faces a lawsuit alleging unlawful pressure on states and voters. The Justice Department challenged voters, sought sensitive voter rolls, and demanded election records nationwide. The Supreme Court blocked Trump’s proposed mail-voting rules, leaving ballot regulations to states.

(UPDATED October 31, 2026 01:01 UTC)

The Justice Department is challenging voter rolls and demanding election records across multiple states. Democrats are suing, alleging the administration’s pressure campaign violates federal voting protections. Nevada found all 185 people flagged as alleged noncitizens were citizens.

(UPDATED October 30, 2026 23:57 UTC)

Nevada officials found all 185 alleged noncitizen voters were citizens; Attorney General Blanche signed four criminal cases. Democrats sued over federal election pressure. Courts dismissed every decided lawsuit seeking confidential voter rolls.

(UPDATED October 30, 2026 22:01 UTC)

Democratic groups are suing over alleged federal pressure on state election officials and voter records. Courts dismissed voter-roll lawsuits and blocked mail-voting rules. The Senate blocked nationwide citizenship requirements for voter registration.

(UPDATED October 30, 2026 20:00 UTC)

The Trump administration is seeking voter rolls and changing election rules, raising concerns about federal control. Courts blocked mail-ballot restrictions. Experts warn these moves could undermine confidence in the 2028 election.