Additional Coverage:
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt faced sharp criticism on social media after posting claims about rising voter fraud involving noncitizens in the United States.
On Monday, Leavitt tweeted, “Evidence mounts of noncitizens reaching voter rolls, casting ballots as DOJ speeds crackdown,” linking to a story from Just The News, a Washington-based outlet. The report highlighted efforts by the Trump administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) to target illegal voting by noncitizens.
According to the article, the DOJ has recently secured around two dozen arrests, prosecutions, or convictions related to noncitizen voting, with approximately 90 additional cases under investigation. The article also noted that election officials in all 50 states received warnings that they could face prosecution if they allow noncitizens to vote.
This development aligns with President Donald Trump’s recent refusal to sign a housing bill passed by Congress in June, citing his protest over the Senate’s failure to advance the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act. The proposed legislation would have required voters to present documentary proof of citizenship when registering and a photo ID when voting.
Leavitt’s post generated a strong backlash on social media, with many users questioning the evidence behind the voter fraud claims. Comments ranged from calling her a “clown” to accusing the administration of spreading misinformation without proof.
Some users cited research from the Heritage Foundation-a conservative think tank whose election fraud database lists 1,619 proven cases of election fraud from 1982 to 2025-to argue that fraud is exceedingly rare considering the hundreds of millions of ballots cast during that period. Critics also referenced a 2017 Brennan Center for Justice analysis, which found that Heritage’s data “grossly exaggerates” instances of voter fraud and lacks important context.
The Brennan Center famously described voter fraud as “vanishingly rare,” even less common than being struck by lightning.
At a 2026 Turning Point USA event, a student confronted Leavitt with these findings, asking whether it was justifiable to risk disenfranchising millions of voters to prevent a few hundred cases of fraud. Leavitt replied, according to The Hill, that she believes there is “certainly much more” voter fraud in the country than what the cited research suggests.
The exchange underscores the ongoing contentious debate surrounding voter fraud claims and election integrity efforts, with sharp divisions over the extent of illegal voting and appropriate measures to address it.