Federal investigators may have violated state laws while searching for non-citizens on voter registration lists, allegedly after senior Homeland Security officials instructed them to pose as voters while accessing state databases, according to a whistle-blower report released Monday.
The nearly 30-page account also alleged that agents were given strict quotas, leaving them with about 12 minutes to examine each voter record as part of the federal government’s expansive effort to identify non-citizens on voter rolls.
According to the whistle-blower, the investigation relied on questionable data that could have resulted in eligible US citizens being wrongly flagged as ineligible voters.
The report was provided to Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer and Alex Padilla and offers an inside account of what has been described as the “Unlawful Voter Initiative.”
The New York Times reported last month that the operation involved hundreds of federal agents examining voter registration records maintained by individual states in an effort to identify potential cases of voter fraud.
The investigation is linked to President Donald Trump’s longstanding concerns over non-citizens voting in US elections, despite decades of research indicating that such cases are extremely rare.
The whistle-blower’s account has heightened concerns among Democrats and voting rights groups, who have criticised the initiative as another attempt by the Trump administration to cast doubt on the credibility of US elections.
Critics have also raised fears that legitimate voters could be wrongly removed or prevented from participating in the upcoming midterm elections.
Schumer, the Senate minority leader, accused the administration of taking unprecedented steps to influence the electoral process.
“This is just the latest example of how far Donald Trump will go to interfere in our elections,” Schumer said in an interview.
He added: “We’ve never seen anything quite like this. They come up with so many different ways to try and steal the election, to try and jaundice the election, but we’ve never seen anything quite like this. Department of Homeland Security is actually pulling away these law officers, these federal law enforcement officers, away from the work they’re supposed to do.”
The senator’s comments came as concerns grew over the use of federal law enforcement personnel to investigate state-maintained voter records.
On Sunday, Schumer and Padilla wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, calling for the operation to be suspended.
The senators also requested answers to 12 specific questions about how the initiative was being conducted, including concerns raised by the whistle-blower over the methods used by federal agents.
They attached the complete whistle-blower account to their letter.
The report was prepared by the Democracy Defenders Fund, a nonprofit watchdog organisation established in 2023.
The allegations come as political tensions continue to rise ahead of the US midterm elections, with voting rights advocates warning that investigations into voter rolls could have consequences for legitimate voters if inaccurate information is used to determine eligibility.
