He's tried before and we sued him and won. And if there's one thing the Supreme Court has actually been willing to check him on, it's his abuse of emergency powers (see the recent tariffs decision). So if he tries again, I think he can expect the same result.
And Trump has said he will issue another executive order doing all kinds of wild things like banning mail voting and voting machines or imposing a show-your-papers requirement. So he very well may try. But if he thinks his emergency powers will make it possible, he's wrong.
To be clear, this administration is engaged in a concerted campaign to undermine elections and that is the primary threat to our democracy in 2026 (not some manufactured emergency). We should take these efforts seriously, as I've said before.
Thankfully, there are a number of very strong federal laws making federal interference in elections a crime. (For examples, look at 18 U.S.C. Sections 592, 593, 595, etc.)
True, the president might try to use the emergency powers he does have in other areas to indirectly justify meddling in elections. But none of these emergency powers allows him to override election laws, so any powers he exercises would be limited by those election laws.
An emergency declaration won't change that. It's true that an emergency can unlock a lot of powers for the president - powers contained in 137 different laws, by my colleagues count (h/t @lizagoitein.bsky.social). But not a single one concerns elections.
The Constitution gives power over elections to the states and Congress, not the president. That's why Trump's attempts to change election rules so far have been blocked by the courts.
Today @washingtonpost.com reported activists are urging Trump to declare an emergency based on claims of Chinese interference in the 2020 election and use emergency powers to dramatically alter election rules. Trump has no power to run elections, even in an emergency. 🧵
Media Matters is fighting the Federal Trade Commission's retaliatory investigative tactics. This week, a slate of amici from across the political spectrum filed briefs supporting Media Matters' suit.
The highlights (plus the full briefs) @brennancenter.org ⬇️
www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...
The evidence is clear: only citizens vote, with vanishingly rare exceptions. Commonsense safeguards are already built into federal and state laws. Those safeguards work, as recent state investigations have only affirmed.
The SAVE Act would force millions of married women who have changed their names to go through extra hurdles just to register to vote.
The SAVE Act would functionally eliminate online voter registration and mail registration. It would make everyone go in person to register to vote.
The SAVE Act would also require states to turn over their sensitive voter information to DHS.
REAL IDs are not an answer. A tiny fraction of REAL IDs would satisfy the SAVE Act’s show-your-papers requirement to register to vote. Only a small number of states have REAL IDs that indicate citizenship. Even in those states, they cost extra and are optional.
For most Americans, the SAVE Act would require a passport or birth certificate to register to vote, documents that more than 21 million Americans lack ready access to. Roughly half of Americans don’t have a passport. Do you know where your birth certificate is?
The SAVE Act is an attack on the freedom to vote that would block millions of American citizens from voting. #SOTU #SOTU2026
President Trump's administration “has taken dozens of actions to undermine elections that, together, show that an attempted election ‘takeover’ may be underway,” Sean Morales-Doyle writes.
From the DOJ's attempts to access sensitive voter info to dismantling CISA and pardoning the people responsible for Jan. 6, the Trump administration's campaign to undermine elections is underway. But we can fight back. — @seanmorales-doyle.bsky.social in @nytopinion.nytimes.com: nyti.ms/4rLg4WD
Presidents can't cancel elections. But the administration can attempt to undermine the midterms, @seanmorales-doyle.bsky.social warns in @nytopinion.nytimes.com. It's up to voters, election officials, state law enforcement and advocates to ensure our elections are free and fair.
From the DOJ's attempts to access sensitive voter info to dismantling CISA and pardoning the people responsible for Jan. 6, the Trump administration's campaign to undermine elections is underway. But we can fight back. — @seanmorales-doyle.bsky.social in @nytopinion.nytimes.com
Despite calls to “nationalize” elections, “the president has no lawful authority for such a takeover,” @seanmorales-doyle.bsky.social writes in @nytopinion.nytimes.com. It will be “incumbent on all of us … to see the administration’s efforts for what they are.”
As I said in @nytopinion.nytimes.com, "We are already seeing how effective people can be in pushing back, whether on the streets of Minneapolis or at town halls hosted by their representatives in Congress. It will be incumbent on all of us...to fight back" against federal election interference.
The Department of Justice has been demanding access to voter rolls and suing states that don’t comply — a move that threatens many Americans’ right to vote. Former DOJ officials at the Brennan Center join The Briefing with Michael Waldman to discuss how we can protect our elections. bit.ly/3MCIKCk
In today’s @nytopinion.nytimes.com, @seanmorales-doyle.bsky.social explains how dozens of actions by the Trump administration, together, show that an attempted “takeover” of elections is underway. But we can fight back, he writes.
In today's @nytimes.com, I explain why we should take Trump's recent threat to "take over" elections seriously and how we can fight back against his attempts to undermine democracy.
On ABC News Live, @seanmorales-doyle.bsky.social explains the impact of the SAVE Act’s proof-of-citizenship requirement:
“21 million Americans that lack ready access to these documents is more than the entire eligible voting population in the state of Texas."
abcnews.com/video/130042...
The SAVE Act could block millions of Americans from voting and if Congress passes it, it would be “the first time Congress has ever used the authority from the Elections Clause to suppress voters” @seanmorales-doyle.bsky.social tells NPR. www.wypr.org/show/midday/...
President Trump’s recent call to nationalize elections is part of a broader agenda to sow distrust and undermine elections, including a renewed push to pass the SAVE Act. The Constitution gives states and Congress the power to set rules for federal elections — not the president.
In an interview with ABC News Live, @seanmorales-doyle.bsky.social explains that the SAVE Act “is a show your papers law, where you’d have to show your birth certificate or your US passport to vote… there are tens of millions of American citizens that don’t have ready access to those documents.”
