Judge Bars DHS Voter-Fraud Probes Across Nine States

A federal judge barred DHS from conducting voter-fraud field operations involving known U.S. citizens in nine states through Election Day, finding the voter-matching effort relied on seriously flawed analysis and likely violated protections against voter intimidation. The probe was linked to a broader effort to review more than 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters in California and to criminal charges against 28 people; a Democratic lawmaker said the cases, even if substantiated, would not indicate widespread fraud. Separately, a report says DHS political appointees asked CISA to secretly obtain and hack a voting machine, a request that agency staff reportedly feared could enable political interference. Election-security experts also warn that foreign actors may exploit AI-generated disinformation and threats of physical violence, even without altering votes, while former DHS Secretary Chad Wolf has urged investigations into potential noncitizen voting. The reports describe competing concerns over election integrity and the risks that government actions or disinformation could undermine confidence in lawful voting.