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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Peter Stone in Washington

How an election conspiracy theorist has Trump’s ear on voting laws and midterms

a man looks ahead while seated at a table with documents on it
Peter Ticktin listens during oral arguments for People v Tina Peters in an appeals courtroom in Denver, Colorado, on 14 January 2026. Photograph: AAron Ontiveroz/Pool via Reuters

Peter Ticktin, an 80-year-old Florida lawyer who has various ties to Donald Trump and represents some 2020 election deniers, has become an outspoken advocate for an emergency executive order on US elections that would overhaul voting rules and rights by ending machine and mail-in voting.

The exact nature and extent of Ticktin’s contact and influence with Trump and other administration officials is not clear. But election experts and analysts see Ticktin’s push for an executive order as worrying, and part of a broader drive by fellow election conspiracists who are now promoting similar and legally dubious emergency order plans to revamp voting rules this year in order to boost Republican fortunes in the fall elections.

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