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The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is ramping up its investigations into voter fraud across the country as the midterm elections approach. Through its investigative arm, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the department is launching a “coordinated criminal voter fraud surge initiative” in nine states from early September to mid-October, according to internal guidance reviewed by CNN.
The surge will include additional help from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) investigators and will focus on states including Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, California, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York, and Connecticut. HSI agents are being assigned to look into voter histories, particularly cases involving people suspected of being noncitizens who may have registered or voted unlawfully.
This push is part of a broader effort by the administration of President Donald Trump to centralize election oversight at the federal level. DHS has encouraged states to share voter rolls for audits and has threatened to withhold grant funding from those that do not implement certain election reforms. The administration also directed USCIS and the Social Security Administration to create “State Citizenship Lists” to be sent to state officials before federal elections, following an executive order signed on March 31.
The federal government’s attempt to build these citizenship lists has faced legal challenges. Civil liberties groups argue the plan could violate privacy laws and relies on incomplete or inaccurate data, raising the risk of eligible voters being mistakenly flagged as ineligible. In particular, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and other groups have filed motions to block the compilation and publication of these lists.
Despite increased investigative efforts, experts and recent audits have found that cases of noncitizens voting are extremely rare. Most prior audits identified very few verified incidents. The administration, however, has publicized arrests and announced an audit that initially claimed to find over 250,000 noncitizens on voter rolls in four states, but later acknowledged that only a small fraction were confirmed.
The Justice Department’s long-standing policy discourages overt investigative actions close to elections to avoid influencing outcomes, but DHS is not bound by those rules. As the midterm elections near, legal battles over the federal government’s role in voter roll management and fraud investigations are expected to continue.