Trump targets voting equipment in 2026 election push

President Donald Trump has consistently raised concerns over election integrity, and as the 2026 midterm elections loom, his team is taking action. His administration is reaching out to several states to shore up election security, and officials from both sides of the aisle are up in arms.

The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration has begun a multifaceted campaign in several states to inspect voting equipment and gather voter data.

The Justice Department has taken what the Post called the ‘unusual step’ of asking at least nine states for copies of their voter rolls.

The Washington Post claimed that the “most unusual activity” was occurring in Colorado, where an alleged federal consultant working with the White House has asked county clerks if they would allow the federal government to physically examine the voting equipment. Election laws strictly limit physical examinations by federal agencies, though they can offer technical assistance and advice to state and local election officials.

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  Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images

“That’s a hard stop for me,” Carly Koppes, a Republican clerk in Weld County, Colorado, told the Post. “Nobody gets access to my voting equipment, for security reasons.”

A White House spokesperson declined to comment on whether the agent who was asking the clerks for this voting information, identified as Jeff Small, is connected to the White House. However, the White House official did reiterate the president’s commitment to ensuring the citizenship status of all voters on the voter rolls.

Still, this recent move has been met with bipartisan pushback.

“President Trump and his allies are trying to lay the groundwork to interfere with a free and fair election in 2026,” Samantha Tarazi, CEO of the nonpartisan Voting Rights Lab, told the Washington Post.

In a separate case, the Justice Department has taken what the Post called the “unusual step” of asking at least nine states for copies of their voter rolls. At least two states have complied with this request.

While the Constitution largely limits the federal government’s power over election proceedings in favor of the states, the events of the last two presidential elections have raised widespread concern over election security. Trump himself has been a vocal advocate for stronger election integrity.

In a long Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump reiterated his administration’s continued focus on investigating election fraud: “Kash Patel, and the FBI, must be focused on investigating Voter Fraud, Political Corruption, ActBlue, The Rigged and Stolen Election of 2020.”

In the same post, Trump added, “The 2020 Election was Rigged and Stolen, and they tried to do the same thing in 2024 — That’s what [Pam Bondi] is looking into as AG, and much more.”

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