ProPublica’s findings indicate that President Donald Trump has methodically dismantled institutional safeguards that stopped him from reversing the 2020 presidential election, just before next week’s midterm elections. Rather than relying on post-election litigation, the administration has spent the months leading up to November reshaping the machinery of American voting from within.
Dismantling Federal Oversight and Targeting Voter Rolls
The White House has pursued an aggressive federal takeover of voting administration, discarding or diminishing programs designed to protect elections and block foreign interference. ProPublica reported in April that the administration cut staff across federal law enforcement election teams. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Investigations deployed personnel and technology to substantiate unproven claims that noncitizen voting was tilting elections toward Democrats. Justice Department data analyzed by ProPublica showed that 41 alleged noncitizens were charged with voting illegally or related crimes as of May, while CBS reported that 156 people have faced charges since the start of the second Trump administration.
As part of this push, the Justice Department demanded that states surrender unredacted voter rolls containing confidential records for millions of residents. Starting in September 2025, the department sued 30 states and the District of Columbia for the data. State officials resisted the federal demands, and federal judges dismissed every DOJ lawsuit that has reached a decision so far. The administration has appealed those losses and signaled it is prepared to take the battle to the Supreme Court.
The administration also targeted mail-in ballots through a March executive order instructing the U.S. Postal Service to create new regulations for mail voting. Such regulations would have assigned the Postal Service the unprecedented duty of determining whether to approve or block the delivery of mail-in ballots to voters. The Supreme Court blocked the regulations in September.
Purging Career Officials and Aligning With Grassroots Activists
At least 75 nonpartisan career officials working in federal election integrity and safety roles have been fired or have left government service. In their place, the administration installed two dozen political appointees, many drawn from the election-denial movement.
Mitchell has played a role in helping Trump challenge his loss in the 2020 presidential election and has been leading efforts to pass state and federal iterations of the SAVE Act. The 2026 version of the legislation, titled the SAVE America Act, would mandate proof of citizenship for voter registration, require a photo ID, and compel states to hand over voter rolls to the Department of Homeland Security. Though framed by Trump as a top legislative priority, the bill remains blocked in the Senate.
During July, the administration additionally dismissed the remaining members on the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission—a four-person panel meant to maintain an equal balance of Republicans and Democrats while establishing guidelines for state voting systems.
Cybersecurity Agency Encounters and Mail Delivery Delays
An unexecuted request demonstrates how the Trump administration attempted to leverage the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to serve its own objectives, while simultaneously stripping it of resources dedicated to one of its vital responsibilities: safeguarding the country’s voting infrastructure. Dismantling the election security operations of the agency ranked among Trump’s initial moves upon his return to the White House.
While CISA has historically supported thousands of local election officials since becoming an agency in 2018, state authorities reported receiving little assistance ahead of the 2026 midterms, with some expressing fear that the agency had been compromised by the Trump administration.
Concurrently, postal restructuring efforts have impacted voting access. The Postal Service consolidated first-class mail processing into regional hubs and halved pickup frequencies at post offices located 50 miles or more from those plants. ProPublica’s analysis found that delays from these cost-cutting measures during primary elections had the most substantial effect in areas that voted for Trump in 2024 across Washington, California, Ohio, North Carolina, and Oregon. Postal Service leadership stated that such delays are less likely during the Nov. 3 general election due to extraordinary measures the agency puts in place for these votes.
