President Donald Trump has encountered several legal and legislative obstacles in his efforts to change federal election administration as midterm elections approach. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has lost 21 consecutive court cases seeking to obtain state voter records, and federal courts have blocked executive orders aimed at restricting mail-in ballots and establishing national voter ID requirements. Additionally, the SAVE America Act has not gained sufficient support in Congress.
The administration has argued these actions are necessary to ensure states comply with federal laws requiring accurate voter registration lists. However, dozens of election officials and nearly two dozen state attorneys general have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to reject these changes. They state that implementing major ballot access restrictions shortly before an election would cause significant disruption and could disenfranchise voters who rely on mail-in ballots.
In a recent interview with Real America’s Voice, President Trump did not rule out declaring a national security emergency to unilaterally implement changes like voter ID requirements without congressional approval. When asked about the possibility, the president stated, "stranger things have happened." Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee responded by calling the proposal "illegal and unconstitutional."
The administration also recently removed the three remaining members of the Election Assistance Commission, an independent agency that supports election workers. This move occurred as a Brennan Center for Justice poll reported that 38 percent of election workers have experienced harassment, and more than half fear for their safety. In a separate legal matter, a federal judge recently blocked a DOJ subpoena seeking the personal information of thousands of election workers in Fulton County, Georgia.
For the individual voter, these developments mean that rules regarding registration, identification, and ballot submission could change abruptly before the November midterm elections. A person might notice changes in their ability to request a mail-in ballot or find that they are no longer on the registration rolls due to the "mass purges" the DOJ is reportedly pursuing. Additionally, the deployment of federal law enforcement or troops to polling places—an option the president has not dismissed—would change the physical environment of voting centers and could lead to delays in ballot collection and tallying.
The displacement of officials at the Election Assistance Commission and cuts to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency could reduce the technical support and security resources available to local election offices. This sets a precedent for increased federal oversight of state-run processes, which typically operate under state constitutional authority. The next critical steps involve the Supreme Court's potential response to the administration's appeals regarding mail-in voting and whether the president follows through on a national emergency declaration before the November election date.