Preparing for Trump election interference
We all know that the president will do anything to avoid losing at anything, and that states, lawmakers, voting rights advocates and others have been running scenarios on any and all possible interference in the midterm elections.
For example, a group of about 10 current and former national security officials has been “discreetly” advising state governments and congressional lawmakers on how to prepare, The Washington Post reports.
The effort, which hasn’t been previously reported, focuses on states and jurisdictions where tightly contested races will determine control of Congress.
Among the group’s concerns are that the Trump administration could deploy troops or immigration agents to polling stations or seek to nullify results based on claims of voter fraud, the Post says.
The meetings with lawmakers mainly have focused on raising awareness, especially among Republicans, of the potential for interference and on advising them to be prepared to publicly oppose any such efforts. With state governments, they’ve focused more on ways to harden election protocols that could be exploited by the federal government, members of the group say.
Meanwhile, ProPublica reports that a few months into Trump’s second term, political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security made an unusual request of its agency focused on cybersecurity: to secretly acquire a voting machine and hack it.
The proposition was shocking to CISA career staff, according to one of the former officials. CISA typically worked to thwart hackers, but the agency had been directed not to alert the voting machine company if it uncovered flaws, contrary to standard practices.
“My thought was they could keep it in their back pocket to invalidate any [election] results they don’t like,” says one of the former officials. “This goes against everything CISA represents.”
The request wasn’t acted on, ProPublica says.
On Wednesday, Oct. 21, at 8 p.m. Eastern time, the No Kings movement is holding an online call to talk about the final push for voter turnout and ways Americans can start to plan to be ready to protect the results of the election.
No Kings also is asking citizens to pledge to host or attend an event in their community if a national rapid response mobilization is called.
People can RSVP for the call or sign the pledge here.
On Tuesday, Oct. 27, from 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern time, ProPublica will hold a virtual event on how the Trump administration has dismantled election guardrails and what it all means for the midterms.
People can RSVP here.
Here is the ACLU’s guide on how to exercise your voting rights, resist voter intimidation efforts, and access disability-related accommodations and language assistance at the polls. For help at the polls, immediately call the non-partisan Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE.
“The vote is precious. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democratic society, and we must use it.” — late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., civil rights activist
Here are regularly updated voting rights resources for the November midterm elections, on John Dineen’s briefing.center website. And here is John’s daily commentary on his briefing.center home page.
Related Knowledge Center: Voting rights
As Republicans move to restrict voting rights, and Donald Trump appears to be preparing for another confrontation about election results, a wide range of organizations are pushing back.
Top guidance in the run-up to Election Day
- Ben Wikler, a political organizer who was chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin from 2019 to 2025 says, “The very most powerful thing you can do as a volunteer in politics is to talk to your actual friends and family who are fence-sitters.”
- He quotes Abraham Lincoln, who wrote in a letter to a campaign committee in 1840: “Keep a constant watch on the doubtful voters, and from time to time have them talked to by those in whom they have the most confidence.”
- The place to put our energy, Wikler says, is on the people whose votes will matter most because they live in a place with high-stakes, very close elections, as well as the people where we live.
- ACLU: Know your voting rights | How the ACLU is safeguarding the election
- Report intimidation, at the polls or elsewhere, immediately to the Election Protection Hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE or 1-888-VE-Y-VOTA (en Español).