Trump Has Tried to Exert More Control Over Elections. Here Are the Key Findings From Our Reporting.

Ahead of next week’s midterm elections, President Donald Trump has systematically demolished institutional guardrails that prevented him from overturning the 2020 presidential election, ProPublica’s reporting has shown. Wary of federal overreach, state officials — including some Republicans — have fought back , and so far every DOJ lawsuit that’s been decided by a federal judge has been dismissed . (The Trump administration has appealed most of its losses to federal appeals courts and has said it will consider taking its fight to the Supreme Court. A Justice Department spokesperson said its “attorneys are skilled, principled advocates who argue every case honestly and in good faith.”) In a March executive order, Trump instructed the U.S. The Supreme Court in September blocked the rules, at least until after November. Two dozen Trump appointees — including many from the election-denial movement — have been hired. Ahead of the midterms, current and former government officials and election security experts have expressed concerns that once-fringe actors who’ve espoused debunked conspiracy theories about elections are now in positions to control the narrative around the voting process. (A DHS (Dept. of Homeland Security) spokesperson said it hires “experts with diverse backgrounds who go through a rigorous vetting process.”) At least 25 administration appointees have close ties to Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who leads Election Integrity Network, a grassroots conservative group focused on transforming America’s voting system. We’re monitoring voter suppression and interference, election observers and poll watchers, extremism tied to the election, and ICE (immigration enforcement agency) activity at the polls. The 2026 version of the bill, known as the SAVE America Act, would require voters nationwide to provide proof of citizenship to register and present a photo ID to vote, and would compel states to turn over their voter rolls to DHS. Trump has repeatedly called the measure his top legislative priority, but it has been blocked in the Senate. And other state authorities told Clark and Mannix that they no longer trusted the agency and feared it had been compromised by the Trump administration. (A DHS spokesperson told us in April the “claim that DHS has a broken partnership with states and made our elections less secure is simply false.”) DHS did not respond to questions for our October investigation, but a DHS spokesperson previously told ProPublica that the changes at CISA were in response to “a ballooning budget concealing a dangerous departure from its statutory mission,” which included “electioneering instead of defending America’s critical infrastructure.” A White House spokesperson declined an interview request but said, “President Trump has done more than any other President to ensure we have free and fair elections.” The White House initially proposed a change for the Postal Service