The White House is working to change electoral rules in its favor. Protectors of democracy must have a counterplan.
The second Trump administration is systematically eroding the institutional foundations of competitive elections without formally abolishing them.
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They have a plan to achieve what scholars call “electoral subversion”: changing electoral rules in their favor.
The administration has rewarded those who used violence to disrupt the last transfer of power. It has disabled federal agencies charged with protecting election integrity.
It has moved to extend executive control over voter registration. It has threatened to withhold terrorism prevention funding from states that do not change their voting rules.
Donald Trump continues to claim without proof that the election system is rigged.
This discrediting allows officials to justify changing rules to subvert how free and fair elections will be.
Allied state legislatures have moved to give themselves greater control over election certification. This erodes the independence of electoral monitoring.
The logic of each move is the same: to narrow the field of who votes, who counts and who wins.
In January 2026, Trump told Reuters: “When you think of it, we shouldn’t even have an election.”
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Community organizations must not slow down in their efforts to register and educate millions of voters.
High turnout can make it harder for saboteurs to claim that results don’t reflect the will of the people.
