With less than a week until Election Day, the Trump administration is ramping up efforts to shape the outcomes, prompting concerns that the midterm elections could face unprecedented interference by federal authorities.
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elections → ramp → authorities
In recent days, Trump officials have sued to potentially block the certification of a Senate race in Alaska, threatened election officials in California with jail time, and implied that the outcome in a Senate race in Minnesota couldn’t be trusted if the Republican didn’t win.
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Republican → sue → Minnesota
Trump’s allies have also been urging the President to potentially take drastic measures, including declaring martial law to seize ballots.
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allies → urge → ballots
Election officials in dozens of states are preparing for a wide range of possible interference on Tuesday when millions of voters will cast ballots, as well as in the days that follow as the votes are counted, the final batches of mail-in ballots come in and the election outcomes are certified.
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outcomes → prepare → ballots
The prospect of so many challenges has led to intense efforts by voting rights groups, election officials and teams of lawyers to be ready to respond to election meddling anywhere in the country.
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prospect → lead → country
Here’s how the Trump Administration could potentially interfere in each step of the election process—and how state and local officials, and various outside groups, are preparing for each scenario
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officials → interfere → scenario
Polls open for in-person voting
Election workers are preparing for possible federal interference both inside and outside polling places on Tuesday.
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workers → prepare → Tuesday
Over the past few months, officials from the Trump Administration have given vague answers when asked if the Administration might try to deploy federal agents to the polls.
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Administration → give → polls
Federal laws explicitly prohibit military or federal officials from stationing troops or armed men where elections are held in an attempt to interfere with a federal election.
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elections → prohibit → election
Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine assured a Democratic senator in late August that the military had “no plan” to be deployed to polling locations during the midterm elections.
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military → assure → elections
Yet Trump has declined to rule out measures such as declaring a federal emergency on Election Day or sending ICE agents to the polls, telling TIME in an interview in September that he didn’t “rule anything out” at this point.
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he → decline → point
At least three lawsuits have been filed to preemptively block ICE agents from being deployed to polling sites on Election Day.
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lawsuits → file → Day
According to one of the lawsuits, at least one county sheriffs’ office in Colorado has already been cooperating with ICE and conducted “warrant checks at polling locations” this year.
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office → accord → locations
Along with the prospect of ICE agents conducting immigration enforcement, election officials have also expressed concern that the federal government might try other ways to disrupt polling places, citing voter fraud allegations as a premise.
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government → conduct → premise
For months, the Administration has been involved in a legal fight with dozens of states over allegations that noncitizens are on their voter rolls.
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noncitizens → involve → rolls
Election experts say voter fraud is incredibly rare.
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fraud → say → ?
In some local communities, there are indications that federal agents showing up at polling locations could sow chaos at the polls.
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agents → be → polls
Virginia’s Arlington County stated in its preemptive legal filing against federal agents at the polls that the county had developed plans regarding “whether and how to make arrests, and any prosecutorial response or civil legal actions that might be necessary.”
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that → state → arrests
“Arlington has never before needed to prepare for these threat scenarios,” the filing adds.
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filing → need → scenarios
When reached for a statement, the Arlington County government says the local police department remains in contact with election officials and is prepared to respond to any reported incidents.
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department → reach → incidents
Polls close and ballot counting begins
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counting → close → ?
As polling stations close Tuesday evening, local election officials and voting rights groups are bracing for the prospect of federal officials possibly seizing election materials and voting machines.
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officials → close → materials
In January, the FBI raided the Fulton County election office in Georgia and seized election materials in connection with the 2020 election.
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FBI → raid → election
In May, a federal judge ruled that the federal government could continue to retain the ballots.
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government → rule → ballots
The FBI has not announced any wrongdoing stemming from the investigation.
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FBI → announce → investigation
“The lesson of Fulton County was that you have to be ready to be in court literally in minutes,” Norm Eisen, the executive director of Democracy Defenders Action, tells TIME.
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Eisen → have → TIME
Eisen has been working closely with voting rights groups as well as local and state election officials in multiple states to prepare for any federal interference in next week’s elections.
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Eisen → work → elections
That includes being ready to immediately file lawsuits as soon as any federal officials try to seize any ballots or voting machines.
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officials → include → ballots
Other legal scholars are also encouraging judges to consider alternative solutions if federal authorities seek to retain election materials.
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authorities → encourage → materials
Rick Hasen, a law professor and director of UCLA’s Safeguarding Democracy Project, published a white paper urging judges who might see warrant applications for ballot seizure to consider ordering copies of the ballot to allow the election certification process to continue.
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process → publish → ballot
Waiting for the last batches of mail-in ballots
Many mail-in votes won’t arrive until days after Election Day.
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votes → wait → Day
Some will be from members of the military stationed overseas.
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Some → station → military
The fight over who can receive mail-in ballots, and which mail-in ballots should be counted, has been underway for most of Trump’s second term.
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ballots → receive → term
In March, President Trump signed an executive order requiring states to work with the United States Postal Services to establish lists of verified voters and asking USPS to withhold mail ballots from anyone not on the lists.
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Trump → sign → lists
The executive order was quickly met with a flurry of lawsuits, which resulted in a preliminary injunction blocking the USPS from enforcing any new rules in response to Trump’s order.
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which → meet → order
But election officials are still preparing for the possibility that some federal officials may try to get in the way of mail-in ballots being counted.
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ballots → prepare → way
On Monday, the DOJ asked the state of Washington to not count ballots from more than 400 voters whom it suspects to be noncitizens, as more than 1 million ballots have already been cast.
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ballots → ask → voters
Even with the federal effort on hold, state governments have pressed ahead with new rules that are already pushing ballot rejection rates higher.
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that → press → rates
In North Carolina, the State Board of Elections implemented a new rule that requires voters to use at least three different envelopes to deliver their ballots and copies of their ID.
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that → implement → ID
Failure to seal any of the three envelopes would result in the ballot being rejected.
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ballot → seal → envelopes
…and 12 more, not listed.
The Aporia
