Trump Aide Reportedly Sought Ban on Half of Voting Machines

A Trump adviser tried to sideline voting machines used in more than half of US states by having their components labeled a national security threat, sources tell Reuters. According to the sources, White House election-security official Kurt Olsen pressed the Commerce Department last year to deem parts of Dominion Voting Systems machines risky under rules aimed at foreign adversaries like China and Russia. The move was part of internal discussions on how the federal government might assert more control over elections traditionally run by states, with Olsen pushing for a nationwide switch to hand-counted paper ballots. Election-security experts generally back the current mix of machines and paper trails and say full hand counts are more error-prone and vulnerable to manipulation.

Commerce officials in September began quietly examining possible legal justifications but ultimately dropped the idea after Olsen's team failed to provide evidence of security threats, sources said. At the same time, Olsen and colleagues were disassembling Dominion machines used in Puerto Rico's 2024 governor's race, hunting for components tied to US-designated "foreign adversaries" or Venezuelan code cited in widely debunked conspiracy theories. An outside analysis later found some known vulnerabilities but no foreign code or hacking. One chip was packaged in China by Intel; others came from Japan, South Korea, and Malaysia—none deemed a national security concern.

Multiple administration officials deny the report. But Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla has publicly urged Olsen's removal, calling him a danger to democracy, amid broader concerns that Trump allies are working to cast doubt on election results and justify new challenges to GOP losses. Dominion, now owned by Colorado-based Liberty Vote USA, says it remains focused on helping election officials run secure and transparent elections; repeated investigations and lawsuits, including Dominion's $787 million defamation settlement with Fox News, have not found evidence its systems were used to steal votes. See the full report at Reuters.