Election experts have warned Donald Trump’s administration could use the crucial hours and days after November’s midterm elections to disrupt the results after struggling to enforce a crackdown on voting. With less than six weeks remaining until polls close, and control of US Congress in the balance, the post-election “counting window” is seen as as a particularly vulnerable moment by former US federal government officials. While the US president’s bid to impose sweeping restrictions on mail-in ballots was rejected by the supreme court earlier this month, there is apprehension that Trump and his allies could use the period while votes are counted to amplify unfounded allegations in a bid to challenge results that don’t go their way.
Some states take days – even weeks, in California’s case – to complete a count of votes after an election. Control of the House of Representatives and Senate may hinge on results in states with a delayed result. But groups such as the NAACP, the National Urban League and other rights organizations remain concerned about the Trump administration’s insistent claim – without evidence – that the 2026 midterm elections will be illegitimate unless the federal government intervenes.
Normally, the Department of Justice and the FBI enter a “quiet period” just ahead of elections, to avoid influencing the results. That has not been the case this year. The Department of Homeland Security continues to pursue voter-roll lists in states that would not turn them over voluntarily.
The federal government has asked states to retain their 2024 election documentation for later inquiries. And DHS is pursuing an independent “unlawful voter initiative” to find non-citizen voters on state rolls, one that an anonymous whistleblower told congress last week that is using “highly questionable data” and may be unlawful. The federal government’s claims of illegally-registered voters – claiming numbers that do not bear up under scrutiny – and Trump’s rhetoric alleging fraud without evidence, “back up a narrative of fraud to undermine confidence in the elections”, Hovland said.
Much of the president’s election rhetoric revolves around foreign interference. Experts make a distinction between foreign influence – propaganda, essentially – and foreign interference , or directly manipulating vote counts.
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