How Trump and his allies seek to interfere the US midterm elections

President Donald Trump's administration is pressing an unusually aggressive campaign to disrupt this year's midterm elections, raising fears that federal officials will try to delay certification of results and sow disorder when the new Congress convenes. Specialists say the efforts should fail, since the Constitution leaves election administration to the states and gives the president no authority over voting. Still, voting lawyers and democracy groups, remembering January 6, 2021, are not ruling anything out, according to The Guardian.

The campaign began last year with a push to gather detailed voter roll data from nearly every state and has since extended to attempts to sequester ballots in California. The sharpest move came on October 23, when the Justice Department sued Alaska to halt certification in a close Senate race between Republican Dan S Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola, citing the 1993 National Voter Registration Act. Experts call that legal basis very weak. Trump said he directed the suit.

Ohio State University professor Ned Foley puts the odds of serious disruption below 50 percent, noting that a lopsided result would leave little room for mischief. Danielle Lang of the Campaign Legal Center says the federal government simply lacks control over election machinery.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Guardian’s reporting. Read the full story at The Guardian →