The nation’s top intelligence office quietly obtained and examined electronic voting machines from Puerto Rico last year, a move that has fueled growing concerns among Democrats that the Trump administration is laying the groundwork to interfere in upcoming elections.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which is overseen by Tulsi Gabbard, confirmed that it took possession of voting equipment from Puerto Rico and inspected it for potential cybersecurity weaknesses. According to an ODNI spokesperson, the agency wanted to evaluate the machines because similar technology is used in states across the country.
Puerto Rico’s local authorities voluntarily turned over the equipment, the spokesperson said.
A Pattern of Federal Overreach
This revelation does not exist in a vacuum. It comes on the heels of several alarming actions by the Trump administration that, taken together, paint a troubling picture.
Just last week, Gabbard personally showed up to observe an FBI search of an election center in Fulton County, Georgia — the same county that became a flashpoint for Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election. During that search, FBI agents seized ballots from the 2020 presidential race, an extraordinary and unprecedented step. Gabbard says Trump personally instructed her to be present.
And Trump himself has been openly calling to “nationalize” future elections and have the federal government “get involved” in states where he claims there is a risk of fraud — claims that have never been supported by evidence.
Under the U.S. Constitution, elections have always been managed by state governments, not the federal government. This separation exists for a reason: to prevent any president from using the machinery of the federal government to tilt elections in their favor.
What ODNI Claims it Found
The ODNI spokesperson said the agency launched its probe because of unspecified “publicly reported claims” about discrepancies and “systemic anomalies” in Puerto Rico’s electronic voting systems. However, the office did not explain what those supposed anomalies were or who reported them.
After examining the machines, ODNI said it found “extremely concerning cyber security and operational deployment practices that pose a significant risk to U.S. elections.” One issue flagged was the use of cellular modems that connect to networks outside the United States.
But experts are not buying it.
Mark Lindeman, the policy and strategy director at Verified Voting — a nonpartisan nonprofit focused on election technology — said the findings sound far less alarming than ODNI made them seem. Given that Puerto Rico is geographically closer to the British Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic than to any U.S. state, it would make sense for devices there to connect through foreign cellular networks, he explained.
“That doesn’t describe a meaningful vulnerability,” Lindeman said. “It sounds like an attempt to rationalize ODNI’s involvement.”
Puerto Rico’s Representative Pushes Back
Pablo Jose Hernandez, Puerto Rico’s nonvoting representative in Congress, did not mince words. He called the ODNI’s actions a political stunt, noting that there is no evidence of foreign interference in Puerto Rico’s elections.
“Yet the Trump administration has failed to explain why Tulsi Gabbard’s team was there in the first place, while the President continues to send conflicting messages,” Hernandez said. “Voters deserve straightforward answers, not political theater.”
It is worth noting that while Puerto Rico’s residents are American citizens, they cannot vote in the general election for president — making the administration’s intense focus on the island’s voting systems all the more puzzling to critics.
Democrats Fear a Coordinated Effort
Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told NBC News he believes what is unfolding is not a series of coincidences but a coordinated strategy.
“Unfortunately, it appears there may be a coordinated effort to try to interfere in the ’26 midterms,” Warner said. He added that Trump still cannot accept that he lost the 2020 election and is now engaged in what Warner described as a “Nixonian effort” to prevent another political setback in 2026.
U.S. intelligence agencies have historically been prohibited from taking a leading role in domestic matters, including elections. That firewall exists to protect American democracy from the kind of government overreach that authoritarian regimes use to maintain power.
When the nation’s top spy agency starts seizing voting machines and showing up at FBI raids on election offices, it is reasonable — and necessary — to ask why.
In 2024, U.S. officials found no evidence that foreign actors successfully hacked into any election infrastructure. The real threat to election integrity in 2026 may not be coming from abroad. It may be coming from inside the administration itself.
