Fears are growing that President Donald Trump is paving the way for central control of the US election, as well as raising doubts about the US electoral system. His administration’s release of documents, allegations of non-citizen voting, and claims of foreign interference in the election have renewed those concerns.
Election experts and his critics fear that Trump could declare a national emergency on the pretext of national security ahead of the November midterm elections. Trump himself has not ruled out this possibility. In fact, when asked directly about it, he said, “Stranger things have happened.”
Trump’s former political strategist Steve Bannon went a step further, saying such an announcement was coming. On his “War Room” video podcast on July 29, he said to be ready for the last week of August.
His statement created the impression that preparations were underway to declare a national security emergency surrounding the midterm elections.
But election experts say that even if such an emergency were declared, it would not exceed the president’s constitutional authority to conduct elections. No US president has ever attempted to establish direct control over voting by declaring a state of emergency.
Aria Branch, a lawyer who has fought the Trump administration in election-related cases, said the administration is trying to create a legal basis for declaring a state of emergency to establish central control over the election.
According to him, the president is looking for any opportunity to do so.
‘You have to be prepared for everything’
Santiago Mayor, president of Voters of Tomorrow, an organization that works on voting rights, also expressed concern. He said it is necessary to be prepared for any possible action by Trump.
According to Meyer, Trump is becoming disconnected from reality. So preparations are being made for any possible move he may make. His organization’s goal is to get enough voters to the polls so that whatever Trump tries to do will not succeed.
Democratic lawmakers have also been preparing for possible scenarios in recent months, including the spread of fake videos created by artificial intelligence and the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at polling places.
Progressive organizations working on democracy are also preparing for a possible unusual situation ahead of the election. Various states and civic groups are also preparing for the possibility of central interference in the November vote.
Tulsi Gabbard, allegations of foreign interference in the polls and elections
Questions have also been raised about the role of former National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, who sparked controversy earlier this year after her presence at an FBI raid in Fulton County, Georgia. Gabbard later testified to Congress that she was leading an investigation into allegations of foreign interference in the US election.
Gabbard’s team was involved in seizing and examining voting equipment in Puerto Rico. They spent months investigating potential vulnerabilities in voting machines and the potential for foreign interference.
When Gabbard resigned on June 30, Trump named longtime Trump supporter Bill Pulte as acting secretary. Members of both parties criticized the appointment, saying Pulte had no experience in intelligence. Jay Clayton later took over the position permanently. However, Bannon claimed that Pulte had worked behind the scenes to highlight foreign interference in the election.
On the night of Trump’s July speech, Bannon sent a message to CNN saying that a national security emergency should be declared immediately regarding the midterm elections. He said it would provide a strong basis for such action.
Ty Cobb, Trump’s former White House lawyer, also expressed similar concerns, telling PBS that Trump’s speech was intended to lay the necessary groundwork for declaring a national emergency on or near the election.
According to Kabe, the presence of ICE members at polling stations is almost certain. National Guard members may also be deployed there. He fears that there could be attempts to intimidate minority and immigrant voters and seize voting machines.
Cobb mentioned that Trump wanted to seize voting machines in the 2020 election as well. However, then-Attorney General Bill Barr told him that there was no legal basis for such a move.
New campaign on non-citizen votes
Following Trump’s July speech, the White House’s Government Transparency Task Force began releasing declassified documents about the election, including members of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the National Security Agency, the CIA and the Department of Homeland Security.
The first round of documents contained intelligence on vulnerabilities in electronic voting machines, foreign access to states’ voter registration data, and foreign digital interference tactics.
However, much of this information had already been made public. The documents included a US intelligence assessment that China had tampered with the results of the 2020 election—but there was no evidence.
A week later, New Jersey Governor Mickey Sherrill said that due to a software glitch, 6,600 non-citizens had registered as voters. Of those, fewer than 400 cast ballots.
Trump and his allies quickly pushed the information, claiming that there were a large number of non-citizens on the voter rolls. Then, on July 31, the Department of Homeland Security issued a notice that cited New Jersey’s administrative error as evidence of the need for centralized voter registration oversight.
The task force also released documents from a Michigan case where the FBI investigated a voter registration organization for questionable voter registration, but no criminal charges were filed.
An investigative document on voter data collection in Maricopa County, Arizona, was also released.
The pace of these releases has accelerated in recent times. On Monday, the task force released a document from an investigation into Chinese intelligence that exposed the relationship between former Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell and Chinese national Christine Fang, who is accused of engaging in a campaign to exert political influence.
The next day, the US Census Bureau announced that it had received information that 24,000 non-citizens had voted in the 2020 election. The number was obtained from an initial collation of 128 million records.
However, the bureau did not disclose the methodology used to calculate this. Democracy organizations have strongly criticized the analysis.
“There are serious questions about the credibility of the administration’s analysis,” said David Baker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research. “There is not enough explanation given about how these numbers were obtained.”
According to Aria Branch, the Trump administration is seeking legal grounds to issue executive orders on the election.
However, he believes there is no such legal basis because US elections are safe.
Branch said that non-citizen voting in elections is not a widespread problem. The fear and propaganda about it are mainly being done to create panic and lay the groundwork for future action.
In July, the Department of Homeland Security released another analysis, which found that about 278,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in federal elections. However, the method used to identify the noncitizens was not disclosed, nor was it clear how confident officials were in their count.
The technology used in this case is known to be prone to errors in identifying non-citizens on voter lists.
Pressure on the ‘Save America Act’
When asked about the possibility of declaring a national emergency over the election, the White House did not rule it out, but declined to comment on hypothetical scenarios.
White House spokeswoman Laurene Biss said Democrats are depriving Americans of full confidence in the election by refusing to vote for the Save America Act. She supported President Trump’s position.
The bill proposes to impose stricter restrictions on voting, requiring states to submit voter rolls for inspection by the federal government, and giving the Department of Homeland Security the power to cancel the voter registration of anyone deemed ineligible.
The law also severely limits the ability to vote by mail. Trump has regularly criticized mail-in voting, but he reportedly voted by mail in Florida’s Republican primary this week.
In addition, there are proposals to make it mandatory to show citizenship documents when registering as a voter and to have certain types of photo ID when voting.
According to election experts, these initiatives are seen as an attempt to further centralize electoral power in the hands of the central government.
Aria Branch said they are closely monitoring the administration’s statements. According to her, these statements are also a form of intimidation.
He said the US Constitution is clear about limiting the executive branch’s power to conduct elections. The country’s founders were also aware of the risks of centralizing electoral power in the hands of the executive branch.
Therefore, he believes that there is a chance for a legal battle in court to prevent the Trump administration from taking any such action.
But concerns are growing about the Trump administration’s actions. As states, voter rights groups and Democrats prepare to deal with potential interference ahead of the election, the November election could become not just a battle of votes but also a major test of the limits of executive power over the US electoral system.
