Trump administration issues 100+ subpoenas for voter records in noncitizen voting hunt

Right · 1The Trump administration has issued more than 100 subpoenas demanding records on tens of thousands of voters in at least a dozen states, according to a Reuters investigation, as part of an escalating effort before the midterm elections to find unlawful voting by non-US citizens. 1 Right · 1Most of the subpoenas Reuters documented went to state and local election officials in the past three months, though some date to the start of the year, and many had not been reported before. Reuters identified them through public-records requests and interviews with officials. 1 Right · 1Many went to Democratic strongholds including Minneapolis, Philadelphia and Los Angeles, but they also reach Republican-leaning states with competitive races, including Texas, Kansas and Georgia. At least 44 were issued under grand jury authority, which indicates criminal investigations and generally makes them harder to challenge in court than administrative subpoenas. 1

Right · 1The subpoenas vary from records on individual voters to demands for entire local voter rolls. In California the Justice Department issued at least 17 to Democratic-leaning jurisdictions including Los Angeles and San Diego counties; in Massachusetts a US attorney targeted at least eight cities and towns, and at least three subpoenas sought lists of all registered voters. Philadelphia officials confirmed at least four, and Minnesota's Anoka and Hennepin counties received subpoenas for dozens of people. None of the jurisdictions Reuters contacted said they were resisting. 1 Right · 1The subpoenas sit alongside other measures: armed Homeland Security agents have questioned residents about immigration status and voting, and the Justice Department has sued 30 states that refused to hand over voter rolls. A federal judge largely halted Homeland Security's field operations in nine states on October 21, and courts have ruled against the Justice Department in every voter-roll case so far, with many on appeal. 1 Right · 1White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said the administration is sending a message that anyone who votes illegally will be held accountable. The Justice Department declined to confirm or deny using subpoenas but said it would enforce the law wherever the evidence leads, and Homeland Security did not respond. 1

Right · 1Multiple studies and a Reuters analysis found noncitizen voting is exceedingly rare. Reuters counted at least 147 people accused of illegal voting under a federal statute since Trump returned to office, 102 of them since the start of September, which is fewer than one per million people who voted in 2024. 1 Right · 1Legal experts and election officials told Reuters the records could be used to contest close results or to bolster a false narrative of widespread fraud. Ben Berwick of Protect Democracy said the investigations are "setting up" post-election challenges, and former Bush-era US attorney Paul Charlton called the subpoenas "clearly a distraction" for election officials. 1 Right · 1In California, the Justice Department alleged this month that more than 20,000 "likely" noncitizens received mail ballots and asked that their ballots not be counted until citizenship is verified; state officials refused and called the list unreliable, saying a review of 200 registrations found nearly 40% appeared to be US-born. 1

Mixed · 2The stakes are high: Democrats need four Senate seats and five House seats to take control of Congress. ABC News (Australia), in a midterms briefing, noted Trump's popularity will strongly influence the outcome, citing Gallup data that presidents with approval below 50 per cent have seen their party lose an average of 37 House seats. 1 2