Donald Trump and his allies are mounting a multi-pronged attack on the US voting system as the 2026 midterm elections approach, raising concerns about the future of American democracy. Experts warn that the administration is manipulating redistricting, rule changes, and voter access to tilt the playing field in favour of Republicans.
Trump has pressured Republican-led states to redraw congressional maps outside the usual schedule, locking in additional safe seats. Texas has gerrymandered five extra GOP seats, Ohio two, and Missouri and North Carolina one each. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has abandoned its defence of voting rights and, in some cases, switched to arguing against protecting minority rights.
The administration is also demanding states hand over sensitive voter data and purge voter rolls, despite concerns about disenfranchising legitimate voters. An executive order issued in March requires voters to produce birth certificates or passports as proof of eligibility and seeks to end vote counting on election night, disregarding provisional and late mail-in ballots.
Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon has urged the president to 'get the elections squared away' before voters weigh in, and has suggested that the electoral system itself constitutes an emergency justifying extraordinary intervention, possibly including federal agents and the military at polling stations. When asked if voters might find this intimidating, Bannon replied: 'You're damn right.'
If Democrats still threaten to prevail, the administration has a multi-agency infrastructure set up to trumpet allegations of voter fraud and threaten legal action, including criminal prosecution of poll workers and election administrators. 'We're going to come after the people who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections,' FBI Director Kash Patel vowed, despite no court ever substantiating Trump's claims of a rigged 2020 election.
Election lawyer Marc Elias, involved in over 60 election-related suits, described the situation as 'a wholesale attack on free and fair elections.' California Governor Gavin Newsom expressed the underlying fear: 'I don't think Donald Trump wants another election.'
