Payment requires arrest and conviction; Trump did not disclose funding
Donald Trump put a $1 million bounty on voter-fraud reports on Monday, offering payment to anyone whose tip leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for fraud in earlier elections or in the 2026 midterm elections. The offer came in a Truth Social post and was later repeated to reporters before Air Force One, where Trump was bound for a campaign rally in Mississippi.
In the Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “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! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Before boarding the plane, Trump restated the offer in broader terms: “I’m also going to be issuing a $1m bonus or reward, or whatever you want to call it, for anybody that reports voter fraud, leading to the arrest and conviction of somebody.”
Trump did not disclose how he plans to pay for the rewards. The Guardian said it had reached out to the White House for comment.
The offer requires more than a tip: payment follows an arrest and a conviction, not a report alone. The announcement comes ahead of the November midterm elections and follows Trump’s repeated claims of widespread voter fraud, which The Guardian described as unfounded.
Early voting began on 24 October in New York state and New Jersey, The Guardian reported, giving voters an opportunity to cast ballots ahead of election day. Trump’s offer reaches back to elections already voted on while also covering the midterms now approaching.
Earlier this month, Democratic state attorneys general expanded coordination efforts to counter potential federal interference in the upcoming elections, amid growing concerns over the administration’s voter fraud claims. California attorney general Rob Bonta criticized the administration’s efforts to restrict alleged noncitizen voting, accusing it of “politicizing and weaponizing the law.”
Tip bounties for election fraud are not new. In 2020, Texas’s Republican lieutenant governor Dan Patrick offered $25,000 for tips, saying: “I support President Trump’s efforts to identify voter fraud in the presidential election and his commitment to making sure that every legal vote is counted and every illegal vote is disqualified.”
The first payout under Patrick’s offer went to Eric Frank, a Democratic poll worker in Pennsylvania whose tip led to the conviction of a 72-year-old Republican for voting twice — once in his own name and once in his son’s. The Washington Post reported the outcome in 2021.
Trump’s proposal is larger and broader than that 2020 precedent: $1 million rather than $25,000, and covering both elections already voted on and the upcoming midterms. It also arrives as Democratic state attorneys general coordinate to counter possible federal interference in the vote, and without a disclosed source of funds for the payments.