Trump Offers $1 Million Reward for Voter Fraud Tips as Nearly 2.8 Million Floridians Cast Early Ballots

President Donald Trump announced Monday, Oct. 26, that he will pay $1 million to anyone who reports voter fraud that leads to an arrest and conviction, a pledge that arrived as nearly 2.8 million Floridians had already cast ballots in the Nov. 3 midterm election. Trump did not say where the money would come from or how the reward would work, and the White House had not released further details as of Tuesday.

In Florida, the offer lands in a state that already has a dedicated office for investigating election crimes, a long record of prosecuting individual cases, and a layered system for checking ballots before results are certified.

What Trump announced

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that "Anybody reporting Voter Fraud in the past Elections, or the upcoming 2026 Midterm Election, will be paid $1,000,000" and that the payment would come "upon the arrest and conviction of those that created the Fraud," according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay, which cited Reuters. He also told reporters he would issue the reward, without specifying a mechanism.

The post did not identify any specific suspected fraud or allege wrongdoing in a particular 2026 race. Critics noted that a president cannot spend federal money on a new reward program without authorization from Congress, and it was unclear whether Trump intended the reward to be paid by the government, a private source or another entity.

The announcement fits a broader push by the administration on election oversight. It has pressed for stricter voter registration rules, sued several states over ballot procedures and launched a separate whistleblower program offering financial incentives for reporting government fraud. Trump has repeatedly made unfounded claims of widespread fraud in past elections.

What election experts say

Election experts from both parties say there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections, according to FOX 13. They say isolated cases, such as someone casting a ballot for a deceased relative or lying on a registration form, are rare and usually caught by existing safeguards. Those safeguards, and the people who enforce them, are largely run by the states.

Florida's election crimes office

Florida created its Office of Election Crimes and Security within the Department of State in 2022, at the urging of Gov. Ron DeSantis, along with a law that made voter fraud easier to prosecute. The office reviews complaints about voter registration, voting and petition irregularities, conducts preliminary investigations, and refers evidence of possible crimes to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Office of Statewide Prosecution or the local state attorney.

The office receives thousands of complaints a year, though most do not result in charges. State figures show nearly 3,500 complaints were reported in 2025, with 867 referred to law enforcement. The Florida Phoenix reported that the office's 2025 annual report listed 44 people arrested and/or convicted of election-related crimes that year.

On Sept. 25, DeSantis, Attorney General James Uthmeier and Statewide Prosecutor Brad McVay announced 20 additional voter fraud arrests and prosecutions at an event in Palm Beach County. Uthmeier said at least three-quarters of those charged were foreign nationals, with the rest being felons who had not regained their voting rights or people who voted in more than one jurisdiction, according to NBC 6 South Florida. He said the round brought the office's total to about 100 arrests and prosecutions since its creation. "If you're going to cheat, we're going to get you," Uthmeier said. All of those charged are presumed innocent unless convicted.

The office's record has also drawn scrutiny. Its first high-profile round of 20 arrests, announced in August 2022 and involving people with past murder or sex offense convictions who were not eligible to vote, ran into trouble in court: judges in Miami-Dade and Broward counties dismissed several cases after finding the statewide prosecutor lacked jurisdiction over crimes confined to a single county. Advocates noted at the time that many of the defendants had been allowed to register by election officials and said they believed they were eligible.

Early voting turnout so far

By Monday morning, Florida voters had cast about 1.38 million in-person early votes and about 1.4 million mail ballots, pushing total turnout toward 2.8 million, according to WLRN. That already exceeds 20% of the 7.8 million Floridians who voted in the 2022 midterm, when turnout was 53.8% of registered voters.

The partisan breakdown so far reflects each party's preferred voting method:

Republicans hold a 1.5 million voter registration advantage over Democrats among Florida's 13.7 million registered voters. In-person early voting is required in all 67 counties through Saturday, Oct. 31, and some counties offer additional days.

How Florida checks the vote

Florida votes on paper. Voters fill out a paper ballot and feed it into an electronic tabulator, and the state allows only two certified voting system vendors, ES&S and Liberty Vote, formerly Dominion, according to WKMG News 6. Each tabulator is programmed for a specific election and precinct, so a ballot cannot be counted on another precinct's machine. Vote-by-mail ballots are scanned centrally, and any ballot a machine cannot read is set aside for the county canvassing board to determine the voter's intent.

Vote totals are stored on memory devices in locked compartments sealed with barcoded ties, and the data is encrypted when polls close before being sent to the county elections office. The next day, officials load the memory devices directly and confirm the results match what was transmitted on election night. State law requires multi-factor authentication to access the equipment, and counties must keep paper ballots for at least 22 months.

After every election, each county must audit its voting system, either by publicly hand-counting a randomly selected race in one or more precincts or by running an independent automated audit of at least 20% of precincts. Thirty-seven Florida counties use the Clear Ballot system for automated audits, which compare paper ballot images with the transmitted results.

Mail ballots also go through signature checks. Election staff compare the signature on each return envelope with the voter's signature on file, and voters whose signature is missing or does not match are notified and can fix the problem by submitting a cure affidavit, generally by 5 p.m. on the second day after the election. Mail ballots must arrive at the supervisor of elections office by 7 p.m. on Election Day, with limited exceptions for overseas and military voters.

How Floridians can report suspected fraud

Floridians who witness possible election fraud can report it to the state's Voter Fraud Hotline at 1-877-868-3737 or submit a complaint form through the Department of State's election security website. Concerns about a specific polling place or voter roll can also be raised with the county supervisor of elections. Filing a complaint starts a review, not a criminal case, and officials refer only matters that appear to involve a crime to law enforcement.

What's next

Early voting continues through Saturday in every county, and polls open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 3. County canvassing boards will process mail ballots, review questioned ballots and conduct post-election audits before results are certified. Whether Trump's reward offer will be formalized, and by whom it would be paid, remained unanswered as of Tuesday.