The Trump administration has issued more than 100 subpoenas demanding records on tens of thousands of voters in at least a dozen states, ahead of next week’s US midterm elections, according to Reuters, which identified the subpoenas through public-records requests and interviews with state and local officials.
Most were issued in the past three months to state and local election officials. At least 44 were issued under grand jury authority, which makes them harder to challenge in court than administrative subpoenas. They reach Democratic strongholds including Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and other California cities, and Republican-leaning states with competitive races including Texas, Kansas and Georgia.
Voting by noncitizens is illegal in US federal elections, but multiple studies and a Reuters analysis have found it exceedingly rare. Legal experts told Reuters the records could figure in disputes over close midterm races. The White House said noncitizen voting is a significant problem; spokesperson Lauren Bis said: “Only Americans should be electing America’s leaders.” The Justice Department declined to confirm or deny its use of subpoenas, saying it “will enforce the law wherever the evidence leads.”
Wider context from the same report: the Justice Department has sued 30 states that refused to provide voter rolls; a federal judge largely halted Homeland Security field operations in nine states on 21 October; in California the department alleged more than 20,000 “likely” noncitizens had received mail ballots, which state officials refused to act on, saying a review of 200 registrations found nearly 40% appeared to be US-born; and prosecutors have accused at least 147 people of illegally voting since President Trump returned to office, including 102 since the start of September — fewer than one for every million people who voted in 2024.
The stakes are high: Democrats need to gain four Senate seats and five House seats to take control of Congress.
Source: Reuters
