Reuters uncovered a broader‑than‑previously known Trump administration effort to gain federal control over elections, historically run locally, in at least eight states – using investigations, raids and demands for access to balloting systems and voter ID
In January, the Franklin County Board of Elections in Ohio received a surprising call.
The man on the line said he was an agent at the Department of Homeland Security – and he needed immediate access to voter records. Franklin County has a large population of Democrats and has long been a focal point of Republican skepticism about urban voting centers in Ohio.
In the weeks that followed, the requests multiplied. According to emails reviewed by Reuters, the agent asked for voter registration forms and voting histories for dozens of voters – records that include driver’s license numbers and other confidential data. He pressed for information about local voter‑registration groups, describing the request as an “investigation” and “very time sensitive.” But he offered no explanation for what prompted his probe or where it was headed.
The requests were a bolt from the blue for Franklin County election officials. Under the U.S. Constitution, elections – even for national offices such as the presidency – are run by states, not the federal government. Adding to the confusion, DHS’s mission has traditionally focused largely on counterterrorism, border security and immigration enforcement.
“We’d never received a call from Homeland Security before, so that was unusual,” said Antone White, the county’s elections director. He said he complied, but still does not know the purpose of the inquiry. DHS declined to comment on the Ohio operation, but said its agents are “actively rooting out and investigating election fraud wherever it can be found.”
The U.S. attorney’s office for southern Ohio declined to comment on whether any federal investigation was underway.
The Ohio episode is part of a larger pattern Reuters found in at least eight states: a wider-than-known federal push into the machinery and conduct of U.S. elections, which since the founding of the republic in 1789 have been run by states and local governments. Trump administration officials and investigators have fanned out across the country, seeking confidential records, pressing for access to voting equipment and re-examining voter-fraud cases that courts and bipartisan reviews have already rejected.
Email from DHS agent to the Franklin County Board of Elections requesting voter information, reviewed by Reuters under a public records request.
In Ohio, federal investigators have collected voter records in at least six counties, two of them solidly Democratic and the others politically competitive, citing unspecified investigations. The scope of those probes hasn’t been previously reported.
In Nevada, the FBI sought voter information from the secretary of state’s office, a request not previously disclosed, as part of a Justice Department probe into the 2020 election.
In Colorado, a senior Trump administration cybersecurity official approached a county clerk to seek access to voting machines, the clerk said, in another previously unreported incident.
The episodes are prompting local election officials in some states to reassess a federal government long viewed as a partner in election security. In Colorado, at least 63 county clerks are consulting with their statewide association on how to respond to possible federal subpoenas or the arrival of federal agents at polling places, while in South Carolina, officials from more than 40 counties plan to attend an all‑day July workshop focused on similar scenarios, including the presence of armed federal officers at voting sites, officials in those states told Reuters.
President Donald Trump, a Republican, has been open about his desire to expand federal authority over elections, calling on his party this year to “take over” and “nationalize” voting in at least 15 places.
It isn’t just bluster. Through executive orders and proposed legislation, his administration has sought to require proof of citizenship to vote, allow federal agencies to compile voter registration lists and mandate use of a Homeland Security database to verify eligibility. The administration has pushed aggressive voter‑roll purges, limits on mail‑in voting and baseless claims about voting machines, while Trump has directed DHS and the Justice Department to intensify investigations of election fraud allegations.
“President Trump is committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections, and that includes totally accurate and up-to-date voter rolls free of errors and unlawfully registered non-citizen voters,” said White House Spokeswoman Abigail Jackson. “Noncitizens voting is a crime. Anyone breaking the law will be held accountable.”
The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Conservative groups such as the Heritage Foundation think tank have for years argued that voter fraud – including voting by non‑citizens and other ineligible voters – poses a serious threat to U.S. elections. Trump and his allies have also pressed false claims that voting machines were rigged against him in the 2020 election.
For many election administrators, concern deepened in January when federal agents, acting at the White House’s direction, seized ballots, voter rolls and other records in a raid in Georgia’s Fulton County based on an affidavit citing fraud claims repeatedly rejected by courts and audits.
The anxiety has filtered down to voters. In La Plata County, a conservative corner of southwestern Colorado, Clerk Tiffany Lee said she increasingly fields calls from residents asking whether they must bring proof of citizenship to vote – there is no such requirement – or whether they should remove themselves from the registration rolls altogether. “I’ve done this 30 years,” Lee said. “I’ve never seen this level of fear.”
In Williamson County, Texas, elections administrator Bridgette Escobedo faced death threats in February after an edited video circulated online falsely suggesting she had tampered with a ballot storage room. County officials said the video was doctored.
In Colorado, as clerks tighten security, a glass breaking tool, more commonly used for escaping a car, is stationed at every window in the Weld County Clerk and Recorder’s office as part of the safety protocol in case staff should need to evacuate immediately. Photo taken April 21, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Mohatt
The threats were serious enough that Escobedo, who is not affiliated with any political party, required police protection and temporarily moved out of her home. Her account comes from testimony she gave at a county commission meeting, as well as public records and social media posts reviewed by Reuters. Escobedo declined to comment further.
The most difficult moment, she told commissioners, was reassuring her staff.
“That was the hardest part,” Escobedo said. “Looking at my employees and telling them you don’t need to be afraid.” ■