Washington: US President Donald Trump on Monday announced a $1 million reward — yaani 10 lakh dollars — for anyone who reports voter fraud in past elections or in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections, payable after the arrest and conviction of those responsible, NBC News reported. Trump made the announcement in a post on his Truth Social platform and repeated the pledge to reporters the same day.
Source: NBC News via NBC Washington
"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!" Trump wrote on Truth Social, according to the Washington Sun. Speaking to reporters as he prepared to board Air Force One for a campaign rally in Corinth, Mississippi, he described it as a "million-dollar bonus or reward or whatever you want to call it" for anybody reporting voter fraud leading to an arrest and conviction, KTRH reported.
Source: Washington Sun
The White House did not explain how the reward would be funded, how tips should be submitted, or who would decide whether a claim qualifies; a White House spokesperson referred NBC News to Trump's post. The Washington Sun reported that Congress has not authorised any funding pool for such a voter-fraud rewards programme.
Source: NBC News via NBC Washington
Election law expert Richard Hasen of the University of California, Los Angeles, told the Washington Sun he was sceptical the money would be paid, predicting Trump could later describe the pledge as hyperbole, and argued the announcement was part of a wider effort to generate distrust of the election system. That is Hasen's assessment, reported by the Washington Sun.
Source: Washington Sun
The announcement comes eight days before the November 3 midterm elections, in which Republicans are defending control of both chambers of Congress. Studies have repeatedly found voter fraud to be rare in US elections, and voting by noncitizens is already a federal crime, NBC News noted. The new pledge follows a separate fraud whistleblower programme the administration announced on October 20 for reports of misuse of public funds — a different scheme from this voter-fraud reward.