Donald Trump’s election-security czar last year attempted to ban voting machines used in over half of U.S. states by proposing the Commerce Department declare their components national-security risks, according to two individuals with direct knowledge of the matter.
White House adviser Kurt Olsen, a lawyer tasked by Trump with pursuing widely debunked election-rigging conspiracy theories, spearheaded the initiative to target Dominion Voting Systems machines.
Sources indicate the idea emerged as Olsen and other officials brainstormed methods for the federal government to seize control of elections from U.S. states, a concept that Trump has publicly advocated.
Olsen reportedly sought a national system of hand-counted paper ballots, a frequent demand from Trump, which some election-security experts warn would be less accurate and potentially riskier than the current system of machines with auditable paper trails used by nearly all cities and states.
The plan to exclude the machines advanced to the point where, in September, Commerce Department officials began exploring the legal grounds for its execution, three additional sources confirmed.
However, the effort ultimately collapsed because Olsen and other administration staffers involved failed to provide sufficient evidence to justify such a drastic measure, two of the sources revealed.
This episode is part of a broader Trump administration campaign to infringe upon state and local governments’ constitutional authority to manage elections, a power designed to prevent the executive branch from seizing control.
Olsen continues to collaborate with top intelligence and law enforcement agencies to investigate claims of voting rigging.
A Reuters investigation earlier this month uncovered that administration officials and investigators in at least eight states have sought confidential records, pressed for access to voting equipment, and re-examined voter-fraud cases that courts and bipartisan reviews had already dismissed.
Trump and his Republican allies are also pursuing unprecedented plans to redraw election districts earlier than usual to secure advantages in the November midterm congressional elections.
Olsen, whose removal from his post is being sought by Democratic senators, aimed to invalidate Dominion voting machines before the midterms, the two sources said.
Others involved in these deliberations included Paul McNamara, a senior aide to Trump’s spy chief, and Brian Sikma, a special assistant to Trump who serves on his Domestic Policy Council, according to one of the two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
Olsen has worked closely with Tulsi Gabbard’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
Early last summer, McNamara reportedly asked officials in the Commerce Department to consider designating Dominion chips and software as a national security risk, the two sources stated.
At the time, McNamara led an ODNI task force that collaborated with officials across the administration to investigate vulnerabilities in the nation’s voting machines.
The sources indicated McNamara discussed the issue with senior officials at the U.S. Commerce Department, which is led by Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Reuters could not ascertain whether Lutnick was involved in or aware of these discussions.
A Commerce Department spokesperson stated that Lutnick never met or discussed election-integrity issues with McNamara and did not “engage in the topic at all.”
The spokesperson declined to comment on whether Lutnick’s office or other officials were involved.
Olsen, McNamara, and Sikma did not respond to interview requests. Democrats and election-integrity experts express concern that, with Republicans anticipated to face losses in the midterms, the administration aims to suppress voting and create a pretext to challenge losses with further baseless claims of election fraud.
More than 98% of U.S. election jurisdictions already produce a paper record for every vote, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission reported last year.
These votes are primarily cast on machines that print a paper record, or are hand-marked but counted by electronic readers.
Election-security experts generally endorse the current combination of technology and paper ballots, which provides a voter-verified trail for post-election audits.
Proponents of hand-marked, hand-counted ballots argue they eliminate hacking concerns.
However, they introduce different risks, according to Alex Halderman, a University of Michigan computer science professor, including counting errors and ballot box stuffing.
