CREW requests records on Trump’s $1 million voter fraud bounty program

CREW is requesting records from the Office of Management and Budget on President Trump’s shocking announcement that the government will pay a $1 million reward for any report of voter fraud that results in an arrest and conviction.

On October 26, eight days before the midterm election, Trump declared “Anybody reporting Voter Fraud in the past Elections, or the upcoming 2026 Midterm Election, will be paid $1,000,000 upon the arrest and conviction of those that created the Fraud” in a post on his Truth Social account. 

This announcement was just the latest development in his administration’s long-standing, aggressive efforts to target voter fraud, which it baselessly insists is widespread. In a purported effort to root out the non-existent widespread fraud, the Department of Homeland Security demanded that state election officials in four states cooperate with the agency to investigate and remove 250,000 alleged non-citizen voters from the states’ rolls, and threatened noncomplying states with fines and criminal sanctions. DHS also conducted field operations that involved sending armed officers to individuals’ homes and communities to ask about their immigration status and voting history. A court barred the agency from continuing to carry out that operation, finding that DHS likely violated the Voting Rights Act’s prohibition against voter intimidation.

Trump’s new voter fraud bounty program is likely to foment the same fears. Eligible voters, especially those who have recently attained U.S. citizenship, might reasonably fear being wrongfully reported to the federal government, and decline to participate in the midterm election. 

When Trump announced the program, he did not include any information on who would oversee it, how reports of voter fraud would be verified or what funds would be used to pay out rewards. The records CREW requested will provide answers to those questions. The public deserves to understand how the program will operate and what risk it poses to voters.

Screenshot from Truth Social