Tuesday, November 4, demonstrated again that Americans want democracy and US elections are conducted credibly. Voter turnout was strong; there were few administrative glitches, but voters’ choices were honored.
The relatively smooth elections across the country nonetheless took place despite electiondenial and anti-voting efforts continuing through election day. These efforts will likely intensify as we move toward the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election. The MAGA drive for unprecedented mid-decade, extreme political gerrymandering of congressional districts to guarantee their control of the House of Representatives is a conspicuous thrust of their campaign to remain in power at all costs.
The White House’s promise that yet another Presidential order on elections will soon be issued also indicates that the MAGA campaign against voting rights remains a central priority. The next order is likely to focus on stifling voting by mail and requiring hand counting of ballots, among other matters. That will be on top of the extraordinarily overreaching March 25 Presidential Executive Order (EO 14248) and other actions affecting elections.
Trump’s “full, complete and unconditional” pardon on November 7 of “all American citizens” for their conduct in creating fake slates of Electoral College delegates in the 2020 presidential election conspiracy – as well as anyone’s efforts to expose "voting fraud and vulnerabilities” in that election is blanket impunity and encouragement for supporters to falsely reject MAGA losses in 2026 and 2028. Taken together with Trump’s pardon of approximately 1,500 January 6 rioters , the warning is clear.
The call to eliminate the Senate’s filibuster rule is a dramatic threat to genuine elections.
President Trump emphasized to Republican Senators on November 5 that eliminating the filibuster is a goal beyond ending the government shutdown. He told them: “[T]he biggest thing is the filibuster,” adding that after its elimination, “We will pass legislation at levels you've never seen before, and it will be impossible to beat us.” That fits with his infamous quote to supporters that “we’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not going to have to vote.”
Abolishing the filibuster would open the floodgates to passage of draconian laws regulating the “times, places and manner” of holding federal elections. Under the cover of that phrase from the Constitution’s Election Clause (Article I, Section 4, Clause 1) Congress could implement extreme measures without the challenges facing presidential orders, and MAGA members of the House are promoting further voting rights restrictions that are in tune with White House’s election overreach.
There are significant reasons for both parties to keep the filibuster, and the proposed government funding deal postpones the immediate issue until January 30. In the meantime, something that everyone can do is contact Republican Senators, urging them to preserve the filibuster.
State legislation is another MAGA arena for undermining free and fair elections.
According to a recent Brennan Center report, as of early October, 16 states enacted 29 restrictive voting laws, which is on par with 2021’s record-setting numbers (32 laws in 17 states). Of course, 2021 measures were driven by false claims about the 2020 election being stolen. As the 2026 and 2028 national tests of whether the MAGA movement can retain federal power come into focus, legislative changes of election law at the state level will also likely further intensify.
That highlights the importance of monitoring proposed state legislation and mobilizing to protect credible elections.
The Departments of Justice and Homeland Security are further weaponizing against voting and honest election administration.
The MAGA top-down, bottom-up approach to subverting credible elections is revealed by the recent addition to key positions in the Department of Justice and at Homeland Security of more 2020 election credibility deniers, bridging institutional and grassroots mobilization.
The DOJ’s sweeping efforts to gather state voter lists, despite privacy concerns, foreshadows creation of a spurious, de facto national voter registry, countering the states’ electoral authority. Public confidence in voting systems technology, challenged by certification provisions of EO 14248, could face further subversion under the guise of decertifying voting systems.
Election system cyber security and general safety of election workers is being undermined as the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) turns away from assisting election administration. Yet, artificial intelligence challenges and human threats are both serious threats. The Brennan Center reports that CISA may even become a source of misinformation on election security, which places pressure on states to develop mutual assistance measures to enhance election security,
The toxic political environment in the US is likely to intensify as the 2026 and 2028 elections approach. Potentials for political violence, unfortunately, may not diminish, and threats against election workers as well as judges, who are essential to credibly resolving electoral related legal disputes, will continue. Citizens who are committed to credible elections should step forward and volunteer as election workers to help address high election worker turnover. And, efforts by groups like the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR) and the Article III Coalition will be all the more important.
As the mid-terms and presidential elections approach, each of us will face the challenge of finding accurate information to make informed political choices and to defend credible elections. We also will have to decide how to use our voices, donate our time, and provide financial support that we can afford to protect elections and safeguard democracy.
Publications, including Democracy Docket, Election Law Blog, and VoteBeat, shed light on challenges to credible elections and efforts to combat threats. Organizations that defend credible elections through the courts deserve support, like Democracy Forward, ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Public Citizen, as do groups like VoteRiders and others focused on voter registration and mobilization. Nonetheless, supporting candidates and parties whose policies and actions advance American democracy is the key to its defense.
Credible elections are the means of ensuring that our democracy can be preserved and advanced, while our participation is its prerequisite.
Pat Merloe provides strategic advice to groups focused on democracy and trustworthy elections in the U.S. and internationally. He has engaged with election monitors and democracy advocates in 65 countries.
