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NYT: Whistleblower Says Federal Agents May Have Broken Laws to Find Noncitizens on Voter Rolls

Brett T.
Brett T.  |  11:00 PM on September 14, 2026

It was at the beginning of September that The New York Times jumped on the story of a whistleblower in the United States Postal Service who had contacted Sen. Richard Blumenthal to tell his committee that the implementation of President Donald Trump's order for the Postal Service to put traceable barcodes on mail-in ballots was a “secretive, rushed, chaotic, risky, and haphazard" effort that could result in "catastrophic failure” in the mail ballot system. As we reported, the whistleblower's complaint was assisted by a group called Whistleblower Aid, a "nonpartisan" group co-founded by Mark Zaid, who represented the intelligence community whistleblower who led to President Donald Trump's first impeachment.

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That story didn't go anywhere, but now The New York Times has a new whistleblower story. This whistleblower says that the federal government might have broken state laws in its effort to find noncitizens on voter rolls.

Nick Corasaniti and Hamed Aleaziz report:

The whistle-blower report, provided to Senators Chuck Schumer and Alex Padilla, both Democrats, offers an inside view of the “Unlawful Voter Initiative.” The New York Times revealed last month the existence of the operation, which has deployed hundreds of federal agents to scour voter rolls managed by the states in a widespread hunt for evidence of voter fraud. The investigation stems from President Trump’s longstanding fixation on noncitizen voting, despite decades of research showing the practice is vanishingly rare.

Democrats and voting rights activists have denounced the operation as yet another way Mr. Trump, who has acknowledged the headwinds Republicans are facing as they try to retain control of Congress, is trying to sow doubts about the legitimacy of U.S. elections. They fear that eligible voters could be disqualified from participating in the fall midterms, or, worse, that Mr. Trump will use the investigation to try to discard actual results.

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Monday Morning Meme Madness
FuzzyChimp
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"Despite decades of research showing the practice is vanishingly rare." So, how many noncitizens are voting? You're the reporters — you tell us. For the record, one is too many.

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Activist judges are blocking the government from cross-referencing voter rolls with federal databases, citing privacy violations.

May have been broken.

"Breaking News!"

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