"We want to take over,' Trump said to Dan Bongino on the former FBI staffer's podcast earlier this month. 'We should take over the voting in at least many 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting."
"If the federal government declared some digital voting machines off-limits at the last minute, it would set off a chain of emergency court hearings, leaving elections directors scrambling to find another way to print and count ballots before those cases resolved. Early voting could crater. Election Day voting could be curtailed."
"Historically, midterm elections tend to go against the party of a newly-elected president, as Trump has acknowledged, and the president's efforts to thwart that eventuality are clear across the administration. Last year, he directed Republican-controlled states to gerrymander congressional districts to try to limit opportunities for Democrats to win seats."
Following FBI seizure of Fulton County election materials, Trump renewed false claims about the 2020 Georgia election and called for Republican takeover of voting in multiple locations, advocating for nationalized voting systems. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, present at the Fulton County raid, led an investigation into Puerto Rico's voting machines, examining them for vulnerabilities. These developments suggest potential federal seizure of voting machines nationwide could disrupt the 2026 midterms, causing emergency court proceedings, ballot printing delays, and postponed results. The administration's broader efforts to maintain power include gerrymandering congressional districts and backing challenges to voting rights laws, with election disruption representing another potential authoritarian mechanism.
#voting-systems #election-interference #2026-midterms #federal-government-power #voting-machine-vulnerabilities
Read at www.theguardian.com
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