WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's election-security czar last year sought to ban voting machines used in more than half of U.S. states by asking whether the Commerce Department could declare their components national security risks, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Olsen's Push for Hand-Counted Paper Ballots
White House adviser Kurt Olsen, a lawyer Trump tasked with proving widely debunked election-rigging conspiracy theories, pushed the plan to target Dominion Voting Systems machines. The idea emerged as Olsen and other officials brainstormed about how the federal government could take control over elections from U.S. states, an idea publicly aired by Trump. Olsen wanted a national system of hand-counted paper ballots, a frequent Trump demand that some election-security experts say would be less accurate and potentially riskier than the current system of machines with auditable paper trails.
Plan Collapses Due to Lack of Evidence
The plan to exclude the machines got far enough that in September, Commerce Department officials began exploring what grounds could be invoked to execute it, three additional sources said. It eventually collapsed because Olsen and other administration staffers failed to provide evidence to justify such a move, two of the sources said.
Broader Push to Encroach on State Election Authority
The episode is part of a far-reaching Trump administration push to encroach on state and local governments' authority to run elections – which is granted to them in the U.S. Constitution to prevent the executive branch from seizing power. Olsen is working with the nation's top intelligence and law enforcement agencies to chase voting-rigging claims.
A Reuters investigation earlier this month found 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 have rejected. Trump and Republican allies are also pursuing unprecedented plans to redraw election districts earlier than usual to secure advantages in the November midterm congressional elections.
Key Players in the Deliberations
Others involved in the deliberations included Paul McNamara, a senior aide of Trump's spy chief Tulsi Gabbard, and Brian Sikma, a special assistant to Trump who works on his Domestic Policy Council, according to one source. Early last summer, McNamara asked officials in the Commerce Department to consider the potential designation of Dominion chips and software as a national security risk. At the time, McNamara headed an ODNI task force that worked with officials across the administration to investigate vulnerabilities in the nation's voting machines.
Reuters could not determine whether Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was involved in or aware of those discussions. A Commerce Department spokesperson said Lutnick never met or discussed election-integrity issues with McNamara.
Worries About More Election Chaos
Democrats and election-integrity experts worry that, with Republicans expected to suffer losses in the midterms, the administration aims to suppress voting and pave the way to challenge losses with more 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 said last year. Election-security experts broadly support the current combination of technology and paper ballots.
Proponents of hand-marked, hand-counted ballots argue they eliminate hacking concerns. But they pose different risks, said Alex Halderman, a University of Michigan computer-science professor, including counting mistakes and ballot-box stuffing.
Scouring Voting Machines for Traces of Foreign Adversaries
U.S. supply chain rules give the commerce secretary powers to restrict transactions with technology companies from nations designated foreign adversaries, including China, Russia, and specifically the government of Venezuela's former President Nicolas Maduro. A main focus of Olsen's efforts is the debunked theory that Dominion machines were infected with code controlled by Venezuelans to steal the 2020 election from Trump.
Repeated investigations and lawsuits since 2020 have produced no evidence Dominion machines were hacked. In 2023, Fox News paid Dominion $787 million in a defamation case over false election-rigging claims. In 2024, at least 27 states used Dominion machines.
In May 2025, Olsen helped lead a federal mission that seized Dominion machines used in Puerto Rico's 2024 gubernatorial election. An analysis found some known vulnerabilities but no Venezuelan-origin code or evidence of hacking. Olsen's team found one chip packaged in China by U.S. company Intel and others packaged in Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. Olsen's report described the chips as 'East Asian,' which sources believe was intended to obscure the failure to find any security risks.
A September White House meeting convened to discuss the machines included cyber experts at the National Security Council. Following the meeting, a Commerce Department political appointee asked the department's office that assesses foreign national-security risks to tech supply chains to consider options to address any risks posed by voting machines. The office considered the matter but took no action.
