Inside the Democratic task force preparing for if Trump interferes in the midterms
Congressional Democrats are preparing for a new kind of midterm challenge: the risk that President Trump will attempt to undermine November's elections by claiming fraud or interfering in the voting process.
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Trump → prepare → process
At the center of their effort is a task force of at least 11 senators, as well as staff and a constellation of outside experts and groups convened by top congressional Democrats to protect against what Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., describes as "direct threats posed by President Trump and MAGA Republicans.
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Schumer → convene → Trump
"The goal of our task force is to ensure that every vote counts, and every American can participate in our democracy without coercion, intimidation or threats from Donald Trump or anyone else," Schumer said in April while announcing the initiative.
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Schumer → ensure → initiative
Members have already played a central role in challenging preelection maneuvers by the administration — including efforts to obtain state voter rolls and limit mail-in voting — even as they collectively prepare for an array of scenarios they fear could unfold over the coming 10 weeks.
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they → play → weeks
Senate task force staff have a list of roughly 100 possible threats, including the prospect of a national election emergency declaration from the White House and the presence of federal troops and law enforcement at polling locations.
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staff → have → locations
This account of that effort is based on interviews with more than a dozen people involved in those preparations, including Democratic lawmakers, their staff, election litigators and experts in academia and at nonpartisan good governance organizations.
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account → base → organizations
Those conversations reveal a Democratic establishment intent on avoiding what multiple people described as a "failure of imagination" that prevented lawmakers from anticipating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, but also Democratic lawmakers limited by both a lack of Republican buy-in and a shortage of legislative maneuvers to address the risks they see.
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they → reveal → risks
Even as task force members acknowledged there is no magic "protect democracy" button tucked away in a Capitol cloakroom, they each emphasized the power of legislators as messengers and organizers, able to prepare the public and their state and local counterparts to act when necessary to ensure a legitimate election.
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public → acknowledge → election
Trump and the playbook his critics see
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critics → see → ?
It remains to be seen how the president may choose to wade into the midterm voting process in the coming months, but since returning to office, Trump has focused deep attention on the way U.S. elections are administered.
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elections → remain → way
"We have very important elections coming up," he said in a July address from the East Room of the White House.
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he → have → House
"We want those elections to be honest."
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elections → want → ?
Trump used the speech to call on Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, a package of changes to election law that would, among other measures, require voters to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote and a photo ID before they can cast a ballot.
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they → use → ballot
"How easy is that to do, unless you want to cheat?
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you → do → ?
The only reason you wouldn't do it is you want to cheat because your policies are so bad, and your candidates are so pathetic that you can't get away or can't get elected any other way," he said.
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he → do → it
Members of the Democratic task force say the remarks should be understood alongside his executive order seeking to restrict voting by mail and federal investigations into 2020 election ballots as an effort to make voter fraud — which studies and investigations have found to be vanishingly rare — seem plausible.
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studies → say → which
Among them is Justin Vail, a leader at Protect Democracy, a cross-ideological group that says it uses litigation, advocacy and research to protect American elections.
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it → say → elections
He previously served as a special assistant to President Joe Biden, working on democracy issues.
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He → serve → issues
Vail says Trump's speech was an effort to sow doubt in November's elections, a first step in what his organization characterizes as a three-step playbook: deceive, disrupt and deny.
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organization → say → playbook
"First, he deceives Americans, manufacturing false claims about voter fraud and the security of our elections," Vail said.
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Vail → deceive → elections
"Second, he seeks to disrupt the normal state and local management of elections," he continued, "in an attempt to coerce them to enact policies that threaten the eligible voters' access.
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that → seek → access
And if that's all not enough, Trump is prepared to outright deny election results that he doesn't like.
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he → prepare → that
"Every American should be asking why Democrats are fighting against the SAVE America Act which includes commonsense election integrity measures, like Voter ID, that are strongly supported by the vast majority of Americans," White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement to NPR.
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Bis → ask → NPR
"This legislation will make sure Americans, and Americans only, decide our elections.
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Americans → make → elections
President Trump has been clear and he is absolutely right: we fix this now, or we lose our country.
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we → fix → country
"
The initial front: the fight in courts
Marc Elias, the prominent election litigator and a member of the task force, describes the election protection effort on a continuum.
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Elias → describe → continuum
"It begins with voter registration, then you have people voting, then you have Election Day," Elias said.
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Elias → begin → Day
"You have tabulation of ballots, you have local certification, and ultimately you have seating."
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you → have → seating
"History has shown that Donald Trump is willing to weaponize power against all points of that process," Elias said.
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Elias → show → process
"This is not something that we wait until election subversion has taken place."
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subversion → wait → place
Elias' firm has been at the leading edge of election-related litigation against the administration.
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firm → relate → administration
He said his team has been combating what he views as the early stages of an election interference effort across 87 lawsuits in 43 states.
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he → say → states
Staff from the office of Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., pointed to court fights over state voter roll data and mail-in balloting as the initial front in what they expect to be an ongoing effort to shape the election.
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they → point → election
Trump has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to develop state lists of adult U.S. citizens and for the Postal Service to deliver mail-in ballots only to registered voters on those lists.
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Service → order → lists
A tally by the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin-Madison notes 31 federal lawsuits from the administration seeking state voter data.
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tally → note → data
States have largely refused to comply, citing privacy laws and the Constitution, which expressly delegates election administration to the states subject to congressional oversight.
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which → refuse → oversight
According to the program's tally, all 23 district courts that have ruled on the cases have dismissed the administration's lawsuits.
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that → accord → lawsuits
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that it "is continuing to review voter records to determine whether the evidence supports a criminal investigation and, where appropriate, refers the matter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) for prosecution."
Earlier this week, the administration secured an interim win in the Supreme Court related to the president's push to limit mail-in balloting, though court challenges are ongoing.
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challenges → say → balloting
The limits of Congress
Democrats are in the minority in Congress, with limited ability to act legislatively on election matters.
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Democrats → act → matters
"There is nevertheless a role that I think that Congress can play," said Eric Holder, who served as attorney general under President Barack Obama and now consults with the task force in his role as chair of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.
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who → be → Committee
…and 32 more, not listed.
