As midterms near, election officials brace for Trump's potential interference

State governments step up emergency preparations amid fears of federal intervention at polling sites, ballot seizures and reduced cybersecurity support

President Donald Trump gestures from the stage during a speech at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center in Wasilla, Alaska, on Tuesday (local time). [Reuters]

With the Nov. 3 midterm elections approaching, election authorities across the United States are strengthening emergency response plans amid concerns that President Donald Trump could attempt to interfere in the vote. Trump has pushed to change voting rules, but Congress and the Supreme Court have blocked those efforts. State governments are now preparing for a range of scenarios, including the possible deployment of federal law enforcement agents at polling sites and the seizure of voting equipment and ballots.

The Economist reported that while the Democratic Party has a chance to retake the House majority and secure a Senate majority as well, the central variable in the election is whether Trump would attempt to overturn results that go against him.

Trump, who directed a 2020 election reinvestigation, cuts election support ahead of midterms

Trump supporters storm the US Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021 (local time). [Getty Images]

Trump has repeatedly sought to reverse the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, which he lost. The episode exposed how the country's decentralized electoral system can be vulnerable to outside pressure.

In January, the FBI conducted a search and seizure at the Fulton County, Georgia, election office and took materials related to the 2020 presidential election. In March, Riverside County, California, Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, seized ballots from a local referendum held last year.

This year, Trump has made several attempts to change the electoral system but has achieved little after being blocked by Congress and the Supreme Court. Because elections in the United States are administered by individual states rather than the federal government, most voting rules have remained largely unchanged.

One reason state governments and election authorities are on edge ahead of the midterms is the federal government's reduction in election security support. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency last year stopped covering costs for local governments to participate in a cyber threat information-sharing program. As a result, some state election officials say they are now relying on private vendors to fill the gap left by CISA's reduced support, according to the Associated Press.

The FBI also reportedly does not plan to set up the election command center it has operated in past elections to monitor threats and coordinate with local law enforcement.

Bucks County workers move an official ballot drop box at the Margaret R. Grundy Memorial Library in Bristol, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday (local time), as security cameras are installed ahead of mail-in ballot collection. [Reuters]

Election authorities are particularly worried about the possibility of federal law enforcement agents showing up directly at polling sites.

Earlier this year, the Justice Department announced it would prosecute election officials who allowed non-US citizens to vote. In response, supporters of Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement have argued that immigration enforcement agents should be stationed at polling sites to guard against undocumented immigrants casting ballots.

The Economist noted that federal law prohibits government officials from sending armed agents to polling places. It added that while the Trump administration has said it has no immediate plans to patrol polling sites, it maintains that targeted enforcement actions — such as executing warrants against individuals suspected of being in the country illegally — remain possible.

Election experts have also identified the potential seizure of voting equipment or ballots by the federal government as a worrying scenario.

The electoral process relies on chain-of-custody procedures — which document the movement and handling of ballots — to prevent tampering. But if voting equipment or ballots were seized by an outside agency, those safeguards could be compromised, making it difficult to verify the integrity of the results, The Economist said.

Steven Richer, a former recorder in Maricopa County, Arizona, warned that officials "would feel very uncomfortable certifying the ballots" and that the situation "could ultimately lead to the serious question of whether the election would have to be held again."

States prepare legal and administrative responses to possible immigration enforcement at polls

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrest an undocumented Mexican immigrant in Brooklyn, New York. [Getty Images]

In response, election centers across the United States are drawing up contingency plans for a wide range of emergencies. While election authorities have conducted emergency drills in the past, the scope of anticipated threats this year is said to be far broader and the response procedures more sophisticated.

Election center staff in Florence, Arizona, have recently been running tabletop exercises covering various emergency scenarios. In addition to conventional disaster situations such as fires, power outages and bomb threats, the drills now include scenarios in which federal law enforcement agents appear at polling sites.

State governments are also putting in place legal and administrative contingency measures.

Colorado is requiring county election officials to document all relevant procedures so they can demonstrate the legality of the chain of custody even if a court order compels them to hand over election materials to another agency.

An official in one Arizona county said the jurisdiction had asked its voting equipment vendor to secure sufficient backup inventory in case the federal government seized the equipment.

Pima County, Arizona, which borders Mexico, has prepared paperwork in advance so it can immediately seek a restraining order from a court if immigration enforcement agents appear at polling sites.

Gabriella Casarrubias-Kelly, the recorder for Pima County, said staff would only need to fill in a few pieces of information, print the documents and bring them directly to a judge standing by.

The Economist observed that the federal executive branch, long seen as a guarantor of electoral integrity, is now being identified as a potential threat to election credibility.

In an era when a single word from Trump can shake global markets, the Herald Business international desk delivers a daily briefing — from Wall Street's closing figures to the Trump news most likely to move global assets — so readers can stay informed in under a minute.

yckim6452@heraldcorp.com