Trump administration asked CISA to secretly hack voting machine without reporting flaws

Oct 19, 2026

Political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security asked the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to secretly acquire and hack a voting machine without alerting vendors. CISA staff refused, citing DOGE layoffs of key technical personnel. The Trump administration has cut over 1,000 CISA jobs, proposed a $700 million budget reduction, and sued states like West Virginia and California over voter rolls, escalating tensions with state election officials ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Request to hack voting machines

▪The secret voting machine hacking request made to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency was intended to report findings directly to the White House.
▪Political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security asked the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to secretly acquire and hack a voting machine without alerting the voting machine vendor to any uncovered flaws.
▪Career staff at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency refused the voting machine hacking request, noting that agents capable of performing the operation were laid off by the Department of Government Efficiency.

CISA staffing and budget cuts

▪The Trump administration laid off or pushed out more than 1,000 Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency employees during President Donald Trump's second term, reducing agency staffing by about one-third.
▪President Donald Trump's 2027 budget proposal seeks to cut funding for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency by $700 million, potentially causing 900 additional employee layoffs.

CISA election security announcements

▪The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a 13-page election security plan in September 2026 outlining free resources for state and local election offices.
▪The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI issued a joint warning on October 16, 2026 regarding artificial intelligence-boosted attempts to steal sensitive data from election officials.

Election infrastructure-ISAC funding impacts

▪The Election Infrastructure-Information Sharing and Analysis Center reportedly lost scores of state and local members after federal funding cuts forced members to cover their own costs.
▪Federal funding cuts forced the Election Infrastructure-Information Sharing and Analysis Center to temporarily close in 2025 before transferring under the nonprofit Center for Internet Security's Multi-State ISAC.

Release of state election records

▪Former CISA official Geoff Hale stated that the Trump administration betrayed state trust by publicly releasing sensitive, raw communications logs provided by state officials from Election Day 2020.
▪White House spokesperson Lauren Bis stated that President Donald Trump has done more than any other president to ensure free and fair elections and defended releasing state election records as transparency.

DOJ lawsuits over state voter rolls

▪The Department of Justice filed federal lawsuits against multiple states seeking access to state voter rolls, but federal courts have not ruled in the department's favor.
▪A federal judge dismissed the Department of Justice's lawsuit against West Virginia in July 2026, ruling that the department lacked a legal basis to demand sensitive state voter data.
▪California Secretary of State Shirley Weber rejected a Department of Justice request to cross-reference 20,000 noncitizen records against voter rolls, citing state laws prohibiting voter cancellations after August 5.

Federal agents at polling locations

▪Civil society groups recruited volunteer election first responders to monitor polling sites on Election Day and report potential federal law enforcement violations.
▪FBI Director Kash Patel and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin declined to rule out deploying federal law enforcement agents near polling locations on Election Day in November 2026.

Democratic election security initiatives

▪Democratic lawmakers demanded an investigation into the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and questioned why federal funds directed by Congress were not supporting election security.
▪Democrats on Capitol Hill launched a multipronged campaign designed to prevent President Donald Trump from subverting the 2026 midterm election process.

Pro-democracy group voting initiatives

▪Outside pro-democracy and voting rights groups launched an election protection website and telephone hotline to assist voters affected by Trump administration voting policies ahead of the 2026 midterms.
▪Pro-democracy groups filed a lawsuit against the federal government on October 15, 2026 over a Department of Homeland Security effort to gather voter information.