You’ve likely heard the ominous what-if scenarios about election disruptions in November: immigration agents or federal troops roaming polling places, federal officials seizing ballots and voting machines, and President Donald Trump issuing an executive order postponing or cancelling the election. Courts and legal experts have given solid reasons that each one of those potential election disruptions is unlikely. But the threats have served their purpose: People are harbouring doubts.
The federal government doesn’t have to interfere with the mechanics of the voting process to disrupt the election. The easiest way for bad actors to interfere in the midterm elections right now is to let fear and distrust mess with our minds. By intimidating people into thinking they’ll face harassment at the polls or casting doubt on the integrity of the process, the administration is planting the seeds that the results can’t be trusted.
