Donald Trump Continues to Assault Federal Elections

Another blatant disregard for election functionality by this administration

By: Austin Abbring

July 16, 2026

In light of President Trump’s ramblings in his address to the nation, this feels like a perfect time to discuss this action from around a week ago. With just a few months to go before we hit midterms, Donald Trump fired the 2 remaining Democratic commissioners and essentially forced the one remaining Republican commissioner to resign from the Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The EAC was established in 2002 as part of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) following the controversial 2000 presidential election. The bipartisan commission has always maintained four commissioners, with two members from each of the political parties. The federal commission helps states comply with federal voting law, develops election administration guidance, develops guidelines for state and local election administration, and certifies voting systems. The commissioners are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Right now, there are zero members on this board, leaving the body unable to conduct any official business or hold votes until at least three commissioners are present.

This is just the latest in Trump’s attempts to meddle in the upcoming elections because he and Republicans know November is going to be a bloodbath. This administration is underwater on nearly every single measure, including the economy, inflation, foreign policy, and even immigration. Should Democrats take control of the House, which is extremely likely, and the Senate, we may see some heads roll from this cabinet. From war crimes in the Middle East to Donald Trump’s personal corruption in an effort to enrich himself and everything in between, there may be some accountability. That is a big if, because asking the Democratic Party to actually put up a fight is a big ask right now. However, if the right individuals win elections, we could see drastic changes, trials, hearings, and essentially a halt on the last half of this presidency, which our democracy desperately needs. 

One of the actions the EAC carries out is upholding the National Voter Registration Act, which includes protecting voters' ability to register to vote by mail. Anything with voting or registering to vote by mail is like nails on a chalkboard to Donald Trump’s ears. It is an immediate, record-scratching, skipping sound. He screams "massive fraud" with zero evidence, despite having voted by mail earlier this year. Just an interesting little bit of hypocrisy there. Just tonight, during his speech, he cited “potential fraud” in California’s gubernatorial and mayoral primaries. Sure, it is taking a long time to count these votes, but in California’s case they cannot win. If they take forever to count ballots, they are “tampering with the ballots”; if they count them in a day or two, Trump and Republicans would claim it was “rigged” and that there is no way they can count votes that fast. It is truly an unwinnable game. I, for one, would much rather prefer election officials take their time and be accurate. Especially when Donald Trump has had six years to provide any evidence of our elections having any significant fraudulent behavior, by voters, by mail, by registration, and still cannot do so. I guess he is just sticking to his strategy of telling a lie so many times that people begin to believe it. Just to be clear, in 2016 and in 2024, when Donald Trump won, there was no fraud; it was only in 2020, when he lost, and in 2026, as he is about to get his clock cleaned. He is the world’s biggest, most sore, and most dangerous loser. So dangerous, in fact, that his 2020 election fraud claims nearly led to a successful coup attempt by violent rioters, insurrectionists, and his supporters, all because for months he was claiming fraud and that “your country was being taken from you”. This is the ultimate danger in a figure like Trump.

Just as a reminder as well, since Trump is continually and desperately trying to push the Save America Act, we cannot let that happen. That would be, in my estimation, one of the final blows to our democracy. The concentration of wealth and the K-shaped economy are arguments for another article when it comes to the crippling of our democracy, but this would be devastating. Especially, again, given that this is an issue not based in reality. There is no empirical evidence to back up significant issues in election integrity perpetuated by voters, especially by noncitizens, which Trump and Republicans continue to push this narrative most frequently. Over the past forty years, well over a billion votes have been cast in federal, state, and local elections, and the percentage of noncitizen ballots cast has been a fraction of a percentage point. A number so low it is almost laughable, .0001%. Before any MAGA readers attack me, these are numbers derived from the Heritage Foundation, which is a Republican Party think tank. 

So not only does the SAVE Act have no empirical evidence to back it, I believe it violates, or at the very least infringes upon, two constitutional amendments - the 19th and the 24th. The SAVE Act would require Americans to provide specific, physical documentation when voting. This would include documentation such as passports, birth certificates, and other government-issued IDs when registering to vote and at the polling place. Again, noncitizen voting is incredibly rare and already a federal crime, and 36 states already require ID to vote and to register to vote. The other states have some form of required identification to register to vote, as well as provisional ballots which confirm a voter’s identity. Additionally, 21 million Americans do not have these documents readily available or have immediate access to them. Nearly 50% of Americans do not have passports either. This would require these people to purchase these documents, and not all of them can afford them.

This is where the 24th Amendment comes in. This amendment prohibits state and federal governments from imposing a poll tax. Federal and state governments cannot require you to pay to vote. This was a response to the post-Civil War Southern states instituting poll taxes to prevent low-income and newly eligible black voters from having the ability to vote. If the SAVE Act passes, we will be right back to this point, where tens of millions of voters will be disenfranchised. 

Where I believe it would infringe upon the 19th Amendment is the fact that women would be disproportionately impacted, as all married women who changed their last name would essentially be forfeiting their right to vote as mandated by this bill until they changed their last name to match that on their birth certificate. If they even have access to that document. This is all incredibly dangerous and an obvious affront to our free and fair elections and our democracy. This would also negatively affect Republican voters more than Democratic ones. Republican voters tend to live in rural areas, where voting by mail makes more logistical sense. GOP voters are also less likely to possess a passport. As much as I disagree with Republican voters, I do not want their ability to vote to be inhibited in any way. I am vehemently opposed to any form of voter oppression to any group: racial, sex, income, or political. This is all such a disaster. Oh yeah, I almost forgot the most important part - STATES RUN THEIR ELECTIONS, NOT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. That pesky old Constitution strikes again on Mr. Trump. Instead of constraining voters, try this: make national elections a federal holiday and create universal automatic voter registration.