Critics of President Donald Trump warn that the president may be laying the groundwork for a national emergency declaration over US elections, after his administration released disputed voting data and declassified intelligence ahead of the November midterms.
The White House has not confirmed any plans to declare an emergency. However, Trump has repeatedly questioned the security of American elections, while allies including Steve Bannon have openly predicted that such a move could come before the midterm vote.
Donald Trump Critics Warn of Potential Election Power Grab
The concerns intensified after Trump used a July prime-time address to claim that foreign powers had sought to interfere in US elections. He also revived unsupported claims surrounding the 2020 presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
US intelligence assessments and election officials have not found evidence that foreign actors altered votes or vote-counting in that election.
Bannon, a former Trump political strategist, later told viewers of his War Room podcast to set aside the final week of August. 'It's coming,' he said, predicting a national security emergency declaration linked to the elections.
Trump has not endorsed that timetable publicly. Yet, when asked by broadcaster Wayne Allyn Root whether he would declare a national security emergency over elections, he declined to rule it out.
'Let me just say, stranger things have happened, OK?' Trump said. 'I'll leave it at that.'
That answer has fuelled concern among voting experts and democracy groups. Aria Branch, a partner at the Elias Law Group, said the administration appeared to be 'trying to lay the groundwork to declare some sort of emergency to nationalise elections.'
'The president is looking for any opportunity to do that,' Branch said.
The prospect has also prompted preparations among Democrats and voting-rights organisations. Lawmakers have reportedly considered scenarios involving artificial intelligence-generated disinformation, federal immigration officers at polling places and attempts to interfere with election equipment.
Santiago Mayer, president of the Gen Z-led organisation Voters of Tomorrow, offered a blunt assessment. 'I mean, listen, I think it is quite obvious that the man is losing his grip on reality, so I think we need to be prepared for everything,' he said.
His organisation, Mayer added, was focused on turnout, arguing that a decisive vote could limit the impact of any executive action.
Disputed Voting Figures Intensify Donald Trump Critics' Fears
The White House has assembled an election integrity page featuring declassified documents on voting machines, foreign access to voter data, alleged registration fraud and noncitizens on voter rolls.
The administration says the material demonstrates serious weaknesses in the US electoral system. The White House says a Department of Homeland Security review identified approximately 278,000 noncitizens registered to vote in federal elections.
However, independent reporting has challenged that figure, finding that the administration has not provided evidence that all those identified were noncitizens unlawfully registered to vote. Election experts have also warned that outdated records and clerical errors can incorrectly identify citizens as noncitizens.
Critics say the figure lacks a transparent methodology and does not establish that those individuals cast ballots.
A separate Census Bureau report has drawn similar scrutiny. Trump said an initial review of more than 128 million voter records showed that over 24,000 noncitizens had voted illegally in 2020.
The Census Bureau's preliminary analysis did identify more than 24,000 records that it classified as representing noncitizens at the time of the election, with more than 32 million records still to be analysed.
However, independent experts have warned that the finding does not prove that 24,000 noncitizens illegally cast ballots.
The report was unauthored and relied on a commercial voter file matched with federal records. Election researchers questioned whether the data contained enough unique identifiers to produce reliable results.
Some records may also reflect outdated citizenship information or mistaken identity. Experts cited by AP said the matching process could produce false positives, particularly when records lack sufficient identifying information.
David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, called the analysis 'laughable.' Michael Morse, a University of Pennsylvania law professor, said the results could be consistent with matching errors rather than confirmed illegal voting.
The 24,000 records amount to roughly 0.02 per cent of the more than 128 million records initially analysed and about 0.015 per cent of the nearly 160 million votes cast in 2020.
Even if every identified record represented an illegal vote, the number would have been far below Joe Biden's national popular-vote margin of more than 7 million.
That has not stopped the numbers from becoming political ammunition. The White House is backing the SAVE America Act, which would require documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections, among other proposed changes to election law.
Lauren Bis, a White House spokesperson, said Democrats were preventing Americans from having confidence in elections by opposing the legislation.
'The American people overwhelmingly support this commonsense legislation that ensures Americans, and Americans only, decide our elections,' Bis said. 'President Trump is absolutely right, we fix this now, or we lose our country.'
The administration has not publicly confirmed whether Trump might issue an executive order declaring an election emergency. Branch said the Constitution placed clear limits on federal control of elections, which are largely administered by states.
There is no established precedent for a president using a national emergency declaration to assume control over the administration of federal elections.
Such an attempt would almost certainly trigger immediate legal challenges over the division of election authority among states, Congress and the executive branch.
For now, there is no confirmed declaration and no evidence that Trump has formally authorised one. What is visible, however, is the administration's increasing focus on election vulnerability, foreign interference and alleged noncitizen voting ahead of November.
Critics argue that those claims could shape public confidence in the midterms before a single ballot is counted.
