Every American should be concerned about the upcoming midterm elections due to the current administration’s actions and rhetoric.
President Trump has repeatedly suggested that elections should be nationalized based in part on his false claims of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election. Yet, the courts overwhelmingly found those claims to be baseless in more than 60 cases. When they put themselves in courts of law where they had to actually prove those claims, the supporters of Mr. Trump came up empty.
Furthermore, Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution grants only to states the authority to regulate the time, place and manner of elections for U.S. Senators and Representatives, subject to laws passed by Congress. And yet, in a social media post, the President said, “the States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tells them.” There is inherent danger in a centralized national election run by a President who has an obvious interest in the outcome of that election.
The President knows what is at stake in the midterm elections. He recognizes that he will face a significantly harder time advancing his agenda on most issues if Republicans lose Congress. Executive orders carry far less weight if they are not funded and supported by Congress. If Democrats win a majority in Congress, the President either has to work with politicians he has repeatedly attacked or attempt to govern through edict and force.
Ronald Reagan once said, “The right to vote is the crown jewel of American liberties, and we will not see its luster diminished.” Facing the potential loss of power, the President has already taken steps to diminish Americans’ right to vote.
First, he issued an Executive Order requiring state and local officials to impose stricter identification requirements on voters. Most of that order has been blocked by the Courts, but the Washington Post reports the President is considering a new Executive Order that would give him the power to declare a national emergency and nationalize the elections.
Second, the FBI recently seized voting records from 2020 in Fulton County, Georgia. It is unclear what the Administration intends to do with these records or its motive for taking them. The County has sued the federal government for return of the records, arguing the seizure was illegal and voters’ private information is endangered of being violated.
Third, members of the administration have publicly stated that ICE agents will be present at select voting sites during the midterm elections. Presumably those agents will be armed, masked and in body armor, a spectacle designed to intimidate legal citizens from voting rather than capturing undocumented people.
The Administration has also championed the SAVE Act (the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act), which will add significant voter identification requirements including the requirement that each voter prove he or she is a U.S. citizen. Many citizens lack access to their birth certificates or a passport. It is estimated that many of those people might be denied the right to vote. The SAVE Act, which has passed the House and is awaiting Senate action, is a solution in search of a problem. The conservative Heritage Foundation found only 36 instances of voter fraud among more than 64 million votes cast in Georgia from 1982-2024.
The Administration’s claims of massive voter fraud are not supported by the facts. Elections in Georgia have been overseen by Republican secretaries of state for decades. There are already significant voter identification rules and other protections in place. The facts have demonstrated that voting was fair in Georgia in 2016, 2020, and 2024. For our democracy to work, people need to be confident that their vote and voice count. And yet, the President’s calculated messaging serves to further erode public confidence in elections.
The Constitution and the law are clear. Elections cannot be nationalized. The President’s misinformation about election fraud and threats to nationalize elections appears to be a strategy to further consolidate power by disenfranchising millions of minorities and working-class voters.
So should Americans be concerned about the midterm elections?
If Americans are concerned that the plain language of the Constitution will be ignored; if Americans are concerned that millions of their fellow citizens may not be able to vote because of new unnecessary restrictions; if Americans are concerned that ICE agents will be posted at selected election sites to intimidate minority voters; then yes, Americans ought to be concerned about the midterm elections.
