A draft emergency executive order to declare a national emergency to allow President Donald Trump to take unprecedented control over voting is being circulated by anti-voting activists who said they are in coordination with the White House.
Voting rights experts, democracy advocates, and at least one state election chief said Trump doesn’t have the authority to claim such powers — and any attempt would be blatantly unconstitutional.
The draft order — which is said to be based on a conspiracy theory that China interfered with the 2020 election — would allow Trump to unilaterally ban mail-in ballots and voting machines on the basis that they are susceptible to foreign interference.
The order comes from MAGA activists who have been coordinating with the White House. One of the advocates for the order is Peter Ticktin, the attorney for Tina Peters, the former GOP Colorado county clerk who is currently serving a nine-year state prison sentence for her role in a 2021 voting system breach, in an attempt to find voter fraud based on election conspiracies.
The Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution explicitly gives states — not the president — sole authority over elections.
If we wanna be technical, there’s nothing to do. They can saber rattle, but until the executive order is signed, there’s not really much to do. It’s already illegal, so working towards making it illegal is silly.
There’s also the fact that even if he signed it, congress wouldn’t really play a part in what comes next. It would get struck down by the courts, make its way to the Supreme Court, and then who the fuck knows.
Now, do I think the republican majority congress would actually stop it if given the choice? Not likely.