Political appointees at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security asked the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) — the federal agency charged with protecting America's elections from hackers — to secretly acquire a voting machine and hack it, according to a ProPublica investigation published on October 19, 2026, by reporters Andy Mannix and Doug Bock Clark. The account is based on two former administration officials with knowledge of the request, ProPublica reported.

The appointees wanted CISA to procure the machine, examine it and report back the findings so they could be given to the White House, a few months into President Donald Trump's second term, according to ProPublica. The agency had also been directed not to alert the voting machine company if it uncovered flaws, contrary to CISA's standard practice of coordinating with vendors to fix vulnerabilities. One former official told ProPublica the request could be kept "in their back pocket" against election results officials did not like, adding that it went against everything CISA represents. Awaaz Punjab is reporting these as ProPublica's findings, attributed to its sources; they are not independently confirmed.

The request was never carried out. CISA employees repeatedly told the appointees it was impossible, in part because the agents capable of such an operation had just been laid off under Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency initiative, and the appointees eventually stopped pressing, ProPublica reported.

The investigation also reported that in Trump's second term the administration has laid off or pushed out more than 1,000 CISA employees, shrinking the agency by about one-third, and that the president's 2027 budget proposal would cut the agency's funding by another $700 million, which could require about 900 additional layoffs.

A White House spokesperson declined an interview request but defended the president's record on election security in an emailed statement to ProPublica, saying President Trump has done more than any other president to ensure free and fair elections, and referred questions about CISA to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS and CISA did not respond to ProPublica's interview requests or its detailed list of questions, the outlet reported. The reporting has been widely covered by other outlets, including International Business Times UK on October 20.

Sources: ProPublica investigation, October 19, 2026 (Andy Mannix and Doug Bock Clark); International Business Times UK coverage, October 20, 2026.