Trump expands hunt for noncitizen voters with broad subpoena campaign before midterms

Key Points:

• The Trump administration has issued over 100 subpoenas across at least 13 states demanding voter records to investigate alleged illegal voting by noncitizens ahead of the midterm elections, targeting both Democratic and Republican-leaning areas.
• Many subpoenas are part of grand jury investigations, making them harder to challenge, and have been issued in Democratic strongholds like California, Minnesota, and Philadelphia, as well as competitive Republican states such as Texas and Georgia.
• Despite the administration's claims that noncitizen voting is a significant problem, multiple studies and analyses have found such occurrences to be exceedingly rare, with fewer than one case per million voters in 2024.
• The subpoenas are part of a broader federal campaign including lawsuits and immigration enforcement efforts, which critics argue could fuel false narratives about widespread voter fraud and be used to contest close election results.
• Election officials in targeted states have criticized the investigations as politically motivated distractions, noting that the evidence of illegal voting uncovered so far is minimal and unlikely to affect election outcomes.