Trump Officials Are Using Education Department to Block College Student Vote

The plan traces back to election deniers driving Trump's election “takeover” plan.

Last week, a new Huffington Post investigation revealed Trump officials are using the U.S. Department of Education to suppress college student voter turnout ahead of the 2026 midterms, and the operation traces directly back to the election denier network driving Trump’s broader election “takeover” plan.

The Education Department has launched an investigation into Tufts University and the National Student Clearinghouse over the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE), a 13-year nonpartisan program that has helped boost college student turnout. Officials have sent threatening letters to college and university leaders nationwide warning them not to work with NSLVE or risk federal privacy law violations.

However, there is no evidence of wrongdoing. The allegations trace to a debunked 2023 report by Verity Vote, a group led by election conspiracy theorist Heather Honey, who has been installed by Trump at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to oversee “election integrity.”

Before her DHS appointment, Honey worked with the Election Integrity Network, a well-funded and organized group started by Cleta Mitchell, Trump’s 2020 attorney who played a central role in efforts to overturn his loss.

Same Network, Same Strategy

In a 2023 leaked audio recording, Cleta Mitchell, whose Election Integrity Network has deep ties to Honey, explicitly said she wants to “combat” voting on college campuses. Mitchell told a room full of donors at an Republican National Committee donor retreat that they must limit voting on college campuses, saying: “What are these college campus locations?... What is this young people effort that they do? They basically put the polling place next to the student dorm so they just have to roll out of bed, vote, and go back to bed.”

With college presidents now facing financial threats for working with the program, the infrastructure that helped drive student turnout is being dismantled by the same people who built the plan to take over 2026 elections.

Why This Matters:

• Without the clearinghouse providing data to NSLVE, and with college presidents facing threats of federal investigation and potential financial consequences, the infrastructure that ensured students have the information and resources needed to vote is being dismantled.

• There is no evidence of wrongdoing. The Education Department’s own letter concedes the investigation is based only on a “preliminary analysis.”

• NSLVE doesn’t have students’ personal data. It receives only aggregated data telling campuses how many of their students voted, with no individual records and no vote choices.

• The allegations against NSLVE originate from election conspiracy theorist Heather Honey, who Trump has installed at DHS to oversee voter roll data, and her network’s work is now being used to threaten universities away from nonpartisan student voting research.

• This is the same playbook used to seize Fulton County’s 2020 ballots applied to college campuses: manufactured allegations as pretext for a politically motivated probe.

• Trump’s approval among voters under 30 has collapsed: 67% of voters aged 18 to 29 now disapprove of his presidency. Rather than change course, the administration is moving to make it harder for those voters to participate before 2026.

Key Facts:

• The past month, the Department of Education has targeted National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE), a 13-year nonpartisan research program at Tufts University that has helped drive college student turnout from 39% in 2016 to 47% in 2024. More than 1,000 campuses use it.

• It recently launched an investigation into Tufts University and the National Student Clearinghouse, which matches student enrollment records against publicly available voting files, accusing NSLVE of illegally sharing students’ personal data to “influence elections” but NSLVE only receives de-identified, aggregated data and has no access to individual student records or vote choices.

• The department also sent warning letters to college and university leaders nationwide, threatening them with financial consequences if they continue working with the program. The DOE’s letter concedes the investigation is based on a “preliminary analysis.” There is no evidence of wrongdoing.

• The allegations against NSLVE trace to an obscure 2023 report by Verity Vote, a group led by election conspiracy theorist Heather Honey, who misrepresented Pennsylvania voter data in 2020 and who Trump has since installed at DHS to oversee voter roll data.

• The Verity Vote report included claims that were never substantiated and went nowhere. Now those same debunked claims are being used to threaten universities into abandoning nonpartisan student voting research.

• Dismantling student voter turnout has long been a goal of Cleta Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network, the same organization Heather Honey came from prior to her DHS appointment.

• In a 2023 leaked audio recording, Cleta Mitchell explicitly said she wants to “combat” voting on college campuses, named North Carolina and Wisconsin as targets, and called for building EIN “election integrity task forces” specifically in college areas. Her allies are now running federal agencies directing exactly that.

• The America First Policy Institute, a far-right think tank formerly chaired by Education Secretary Linda McMahon, appears to have directly instigated the federal probe and has publicly celebrated the National Student Clearinghouse’s decision to cut ties with NSLVE, effective March 27.

Stay informed, spread the word, and make sure you’re ready to vote.

Fair Fight Team

Paid for by Fair Fight Action.