A senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly explored a plan last year to ban voting machines manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems, according to a Reuters investigation. White House adviser Kurt Olsen, who has long promoted claims of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election, allegedly sought to have Dominion’s technology classified as a national security risk through the U.S. Department of Commerce. The proposal emerged during discussions among administration officials about expanding federal authority over elections, a responsibility traditionally held by individual states under the U.S. Constitution.
Sources familiar with the discussions said Commerce Department officials examined possible legal grounds for such a designation in September 2025. However, the effort reportedly failed after Olsen and his associates were unable to provide evidence supporting claims that Dominion machines posed a security threat. The discussions involved officials including Paul McNamara, an aide to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Brian Sikma of the White House Domestic Policy Council. Both the Commerce Department and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence have denied coordinating any plan to ban Dominion voting machines.
The report has raised concerns among election experts and Democratic lawmakers, who argue that attempts to restrict voting technology could undermine confidence in the electoral process ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Election security specialists note that more than 98 percent of U.S. jurisdictions already maintain voter-verifiable paper records, which allow audits and recounts. Repeated investigations since 2020 have found no evidence that Dominion machines were manipulated or linked to foreign interference, despite persistent claims from Trump allies. Critics warn that replacing machine-assisted vote counting with fully hand-counted ballots could increase errors and create logistical challenges for election administration.
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