The Ohio episode is part of a larger pattern Reuters found in at least eight states: a wider-than-known federal push into the machinery and conduct of U.S. elections, which since the founding of the republic in 1789 have been run by states and local governments. Trump administration officials and investigators have fanned out across the country, seeking confidential records, pressing for access to voting equipment and re-examining voter-fraud cases that courts and bipartisan reviews have already rejected.