Across the country, local Republican officials are expanding investigations into past elections, seizing ballots and alleging noncitizen voting as part of a broad push to combat voter fraud.

Michigan’s Secretary of State urged Macomb County to verify claims carefully and warned against removing people from voter rolls without proper checks.

Questions about the DHS SAVE data’s accuracy and timeliness have raised concerns that citizens could be misidentified as noncitizens, underscoring the need for independent local verification.

Election experts warn that ballot seizures risk breaking chain of custody and could politicize elections, potentially eroding trust ahead of the 2026 midterms.

California authorities, including the attorney general, criticized ballots seizures as undermining public confidence and potentially violating legal processes.

The investigations are controversial: some officials argue they restore public confidence, while others warn they may undermine election integrity and democratic norms.

In Maricopa County, the voter registration director referred more than 200 people for possible noncitizen prosecution based on the DHS SAVE database, which has yielded false positives in other contexts.

Riverside County seized 650,000 ballots from a 2025 special election to probe a processing discrepancy, prompting legal challenges and threats of civil action from California authorities.

Macomb County officials cited alleged noncitizen voters using jury-form data, a method election experts say is not definitive proof of fraud.

The broader political backdrop features support from national leaders for aggressive voting investigations and potential nationwide changes to voting laws emphasizing ID and citizenship checks.