Trump administration officials tried last year to ban voting machines used in more than half of U.S. states, relying on debunked conspiracy theories about foreign interference related to Dominion Voting Systems, according to a new report.
Reuters detailed that the effort was led by Kurt Olsen, President Donald Trump's election-security adviser, who asked whether the Commerce Department could classify components in Dominion machines as national security risks, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The plan, which ultimately failed, would have targeted voting equipment used across much of the country before the 2026 midterm elections.
Olsen and other officials reportedly explored whether the federal government could move against the machines by arguing that some components were vulnerable to foreign adversaries. The push centered on claims that Dominion systems had been compromised by Venezuela or other foreign actors, allegations that have repeatedly been found unsupported.
The reported effort expanded on a long-running campaign by Trump and allies against electronic voting systems after the 2020 election. Dominion became one of the central targets of false fraud claims, later filing defamation suits against media companies and Trump allies over allegations that its systems had flipped votes.
According to Reuters, the proposal advanced far enough that Commerce Department officials examined whether there was a legal path to treat machine components as national security threats. But the effort collapsed because officials pushing the plan did not produce credible evidence to justify such a move.
The plan also included interest in replacing electronic tabulation with a nationwide system of hand-counted paper ballots, Reuters reported. Verified Voting has said proposals to eliminate tabulators and hand-count all ballots on election night could delay results and fuel more distrust.
Verified Voting says the most resilient systems use paper ballots, marked by hand or with an assistive device when needed, that voters can verify before casting. The group also notes that paper records allow officials to audit machine counts and detect errors or tampering.
Federal election security officials said after the 2020 vote that there was no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was compromised. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and election infrastructure partners called the 2020 election "the most secure in American history."
The Reuters report comes days after Democratic senators called for Olsen's removal, accusing him of exceeding legal limits on his government service and warning that his role reflected a broader attempt to federalize election administration, traditionally controlled by states and localities.
