- During a speech on election security, Trump claimed that China had collected 220 million U.S. voter registration files.
- Fact-checkers have published analyses indicating that the data Trump referred to is largely publicly accessible across many states.
- Twenty states and Washington, D.C. will provide voter data with a simple public request, purchase or online download.
- Fifteen states allow access to voter rolls, but users must state a political or research purpose, have state residency, be a registered voter in the state, or sign a use agreement.
- Voter data released to the public typically includes registered voters' names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, and political parties.
- David Becker, executive director for the Center for Election Innovation and Research, stated that there is no evidence that the Chinese could match voter roll information with sensitive identifiers necessary for voter fraud.
President Trump recently asserted that China has conducted the largest compromise of election data in history by acquiring 220 million U.S. voter files. He warned of significant vulnerabilities in the electoral system, claiming that this data could facilitate nefarious activities.
However, fact-checks indicate that voter data is largely accessible across all 50 states through public requests or purchases. In fact, twenty states and Washington, D.C. allow for easy access to this information, which includes names, addresses, and political affiliations, while more sensitive data like Social Security numbers remains confidential.46
Experts, including David Becker from the Center for Election Innovation and Research, emphasize that there is no evidence to support Trump's claims that foreign actors could manipulate voter registration using this data. Becker stated, “It is impossible to take a public voter file with very little information that is uniquely identified... and say for sure” that individuals can be matched to voter registrations.7
Moreover, Trump’s assertion that U.S. election infrastructure is easily compromised has been challenged. A document he cited noted that it would be difficult for foreign actors to manipulate election processes without detection. “The Intelligence Community has zero evidence that someone, that a foreign power flipped a vote in 2020, 2022 or 2024,” an adviser to the president confirmed.
In summary, while Trump’s claims raise alarms about election security, the reality is that voter data is publicly available and cannot be easily exploited to alter election outcomes.
“The intelligence community stated it has zero evidence that a foreign power flipped a vote in 2020, 2022, or 2024. Becker said matching public voter data to private databases yields too many false positives to reliably target individuals for fraud.”
CBS News
FactCheck.org
