Facing setbacks and resistance, Trump presses bid to reshape elections on multiple fronts
WASHINGTON— President Trump has spent months waging an unusually aggressive campaign to reshape how states conduct elections, leveraging federal agencies in ways no previous president has attempted.
It forced the Department of Homeland Security to compile a list of citizens in each state to help determine voter eligibility. He wants to give the Postal Service a role in deciding who can receive mail-in ballots. it exists threatened to withhold federal funds from states unless they phase out electronic voting machines. And he is pressuring Republican lawmakers to overhaul voting laws, claiming without evidence that the election was rigged.
These efforts met resistance in court and within his own party. They also left postal workers and local election officials preparing for an election cycle marked by deepening doubts about the integrity of the election and uncertainty about how the federal government might contest post-election results.
“Reshaping the operation of our elections so that he and his allies can maintain and expand power is an unprecedented power grab,” said Eric Kashdan, director of federal advocacy for the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan government ethics organization.
The White House maintains that the effort is to fulfill a campaign promise and that the administration is “legally enacting the agenda that President Trump was elected to enact.”
One of Trump’s defining efforts to assert some federal control over state elections has been his insistence on passing the SAVE America Act, which would require voters to provide proof of citizenship when registering, Americans to show identification when voting, and states to send voter data to the Department of Homeland Security.
His relentless push for the measure prompted him to derail a bipartisan housing bill and threaten to back out of signing any legislation unless the ballot measure is approved. He says he sees the issue as a “national emergency.” Despite the pressure campaign, Republican leaders in the Senate argue there is not enough support to pass the measure.
The political risks ahead of the midterm elections were laid out more clearly by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), whose chamber passed the SAVE America Act. Last month, Johnson warned conservatives gathered in the Faith and Freedom Coalition that if Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives, they would “go after the president’s family, his Cabinet, his donors, his friends and his supporters.”
“I run the conservation program,” Johnson said. “I’ll take care of you.”
Mishaps in court
The administration’s ambitions faced multiple hurdles in court last month; The justices have reaffirmed in many cases that the Constitution gives primary authority over elections to the states, not the federal government.
In one case, U.S. District Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan, appointed by President Biden, went further.
He said the federal immigration database compiled by the Department of Homeland Security to determine whether voter eligibility violates privacy laws. He added that the database resulted in states actively removing U.S. citizens from voter rolls based on false information.
“As a result, the federal government knowingly trampled on the privacy rights of American citizens in a way that threatened the sacred right to vote,” Sooknanan said. wrote. While this is happening, this Court cannot remain indifferent.”
Homeland Security chief adviser James Percival said the decision was the latest example of “how hard the Left will fight to prevent us from solving problems it insists do not exist.”
This week, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority also dealt a blow to the GOP, upholding state laws that allow mail ballots postmarked on Election Day but arriving late to be counted.
The decision angered Trump. He said it was “a bit surprising” to see the court’s decision, but claimed without evidence that the result would inevitably give “people more time to vote illegally”.
Democrats saw the decision as a necessary check on the Trump administration’s efforts.
“As we continue to see unprecedented efforts by the Trump administration to interfere with elections, it is comforting that federal courts have made clear that these attacks on mail-in and absentee voting are clearly illegal and unconstitutional,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Los Angeles) said in a statement after the decision. he said.
Trump still plans to make changes to voting by mail. In March, he issued an executive order aimed at limiting who could receive mail-in ballots. Postmaster General David Steiner said that under the proposed rule, the Postal Service would not deliver mail ballots to states that do not turn over sensitive voter data to the federal government. He told the Senate panel last month.
The admission drew immediate condemnation from Democratic lawmakers. They argued that the regulation was an illegal attempt to force states to turn over their voter rolls.
“Please stop being a pawn in this authoritarian playbook,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) told Steiner. “The Postal Service is one of the most important institutions of our country. Do not tarnish it with this one man’s obsession.”
A day after this back-and-forth, U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani, nominated by President Obama, blocked those plans, at least for now.
The judge said, “The Constitution does not give the President any special authority regarding elections.” wroteHe added that the Postal Service has no legal authority to determine who can vote by mail.
The White House said Wednesday that the administration is confident the executive order will be implemented by the November election.
Taken together, the administration’s efforts are unprecedented, said UCLA law professor Rick Hasen. That’s because the Constitution puts control over elections in the hands of the states and gives Congress the power to enact laws, he said.
“The president actually only has authority through previously passed federal laws,” Hasen said. “It is not surprising that many courts have restrained or punished him from doing things that would interfere with the course of the election.”
Postal workers await clarity
The legal setback to the Postal Service’s proposed rule was welcome news for the union that represents postal workers.
“We believe what was asked of us violates the oath we took,” said Jonathan Smith, president of the American Postal Workers Union, which represents more than 200,000 postal workers.
After the decision, union organization urged to abandon ruleIt argues that this would “break mailmen’s confidence in the Postal Service” and undermine “one of the most important functions that the Postal Service and postal workers perform in serving the United States and its remarkable democracy.”
The union has run ads in many states touting that voting by mail is a safe and needed option for Americans. Smith said the ads were planned before Trump signed the executive order in March to limit who could receive mail-in ballots.
Advertisements now take on a different meaning. Smith argued that “God sometimes works in mysterious ways.”
“The ad was then and still is aimed at educating America about how good voting by mail is and how well it works,” Smith said. he said. “This is an educational piece, not a response to the White House.”
Smith said they are waiting for clarity on how postal workers’ duties may change ahead of the election. But he says not much is happening right now.
Orange County Registrar Bob Page said his office monitors any changes to existing federal and state election laws to ensure any changes are implemented without a hitch if needed. However, he acknowledged that timing constraints could create some obstacles as the election approaches.
“Any change in how California voters vote between now and election day could create challenges and even disrupt business in many ways,” Page said.
He said many counties are ordering outgoing and return ballot envelopes for the election to ensure that more than 23 million California voters have their envelopes ready for use by the Oct. 5 deadline. Any changes to how ballots are prepared or mailed could create problems.
“Our office has received calls from voters asking about possible changes to vote-by-mail procedures, often based on media coverage of proposed changes,” he said. “We are advising these voters that because the law has not changed, our procedures have not changed and we will be mailing their 2026 General Election ballots by October 5.”
LA County prepares for possible voting changes
In Los Angeles County, election officials are scrambling to clarify the process as the administration rolls out a series of proposed changes to the election.
Dean Logan, Los Angeles County recorder/county clerk chief, said his office is struggling to contain a wave of election-related misinformation, including some amplified by the White House.
“This is not something we’ve seen happen before, and certainly not to the level we’ve seen it happen,” Logan said.
Instead of responding to every allegation, Logan says his office chooses to fight, intervening only when a lie seems likely to reach a wide audience. Even then, the office tries to avoid interaction with the person spreading it.
Logan said his office is prepared to enforce the law if the administration imposes a new rule as the election approaches.
“It was really about finding the balance between staying alert and prepared for the possibility [of change] but also not to be drawn into political distraction,” he said.
Last month, Trump claimed without evidence that Democrats rigged the California primary to win and boasted that federal prosecutors in Los Angeles were investigating the matter.
Trump also continued to claim that Democrats were trying to cheat or rig the upcoming election and faced rebukes from members of his own party.
“I think it’s ironic that we control the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court and the White House and we’re screaming election fraud. I mean, we won the whole damn election,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) told reporters last month.
Nationally, Senate Democrats have said they plan to send election observers to polling places on behalf of Congress in response to Trump’s efforts.
“We’re not waiting for chaos to come,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DY) said last month. “We’re getting ready right now.”
