The 2026 election is already under attack

On Tuesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed lawsuits against the states of Oregon and Maine. The lawsuits seek to compel both states to turn over the private data of every registered voter, including driver's license numbers and partial social security numbers. The new litigation is part of a larger effort to undermine the legitimacy of the 2026 election.

Both lawsuits begin by quoting extensively from an executive order, signed by President Trump on March 25, which claims, without evidence, that state and federal governments have failed to protect "voters from having their ballots voided or diluted by fraudulent votes." In a press release, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said the lawsuits were filed because "American citizens have a right to feel confident in the integrity of our electoral process, and the refusal of certain states to protect their citizens against vote dilution will result in legal consequences."

The DOJ is seeking to compile sensitive information about registered voters in Oregon, Maine, and most other states. The Secretary of State of Oregon, Tobias Read (D), is concerned that the DOJ will use the data to bolster the "false narrative" of fraudulent voting, "making it easier for the administration to suppress voting and other political activity it doesn’t like." David Becker, the founder and executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said there is "no legitimate purpose for trying to obtain this data" other than to misuse it and substantiate conspiracy theories.

The lawsuit itself provides an example of how the DOJ plans to manipulate data to suggest malfeasance. For example, the lawsuit says Oregon's "registration rate in 2024 of 95.3 percent of the citizen voting age population" is "unusually high," suggesting that the state may not be properly removing ineligible voters. But it is actually a function of Oregon's policies that make voting and registration easy, including automatic registration for any eligible person who interacts with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and universal vote-by-mail.

What is the legal basis for the federal government's request, which is unprecedented? Many of the letters cite the Civil Rights Act of 1960, which permits the federal government to request documents "relating to any application, registration, payment of poll tax, or other act requisite to voting in such election." This provision was intended to empower the federal government to monitor impermissible barriers to voting. The provision requires the federal government to state the “basis and purpose” for requests, which some states argue the DOJ has failed to adequately do.

The DOJ letters also cite the National Voter Registration Act, which requires states to conduct regular list maintenance, as justification for the records requests. The Brennan Center notes, however, "a single snapshot of the voter rolls doesn’t provide enough information to evaluate a state’s list-maintenance practices."

The DOJ says it also needs the data to ensure compliance with the Help America Vote Act, "which requires those in charge of voter registration to request certain information from voters during that process, such as driver’s license numbers or the last four digits of their social security numbers." But examining the information in the state voter file does not reveal if the state obtained that information at the time of registration.

All of these laws, moreover, appear to be functioning as pretexts for the requests, rather than the actual purpose of the data gathering.

The requests appear to violate another federal law, the Privacy Act. That law requires the federal government to follow specific steps before collecting personal information from Americans. That includes "posting a notice in the Federal Register and providing an opportunity for public comment." Many states also have laws prohibiting the disclosure of personal information. Those laws could potentially be preempted by federal law, but that would require a court order, which the DOJ has not obtained.

The federal government has never requested this kind of information in bulk before, as the Constitution establishes that the states, not the federal government, are responsible for administering elections. The new lawsuits are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to usurp this role and use the new authority to advance false claims about voter fraud and other election irregularities.

Trump's attempted election takeover

Shortly after taking office, Trump began aggressive steps to overhaul and federalize the administration of elections. All of the proposed changes reflect Trump's false belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen due to various forms of voter fraud.

Trump's March 25 executive order, entitled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” instructs the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to amend the federal voter registration form to include a requirement for documentation of proof of citizenship, such as a passport. States that do not comply could be at risk of losing federal funding.

It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote, and data shows that noncitizen voting is incredibly rare. But requiring proof of citizenship while registering to vote could disenfranchise millions of eligible Americans. According to a 2023 study by the Brennan Center for Justice, 21.3 million people, or nine percent of voters, “don’t have proof of citizenship readily available.”

Another provision of the executive order instructs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to review voter registration lists and records from each state for instances of voter fraud.

Additionally, the executive order threatens to withhold federal election funding from states that count mail-in ballots that are received after Election Day, which is allowed by over a dozen states as long as they were mailed before Election Day. It also instructs the Secretary of Defense to add a proof of citizenship and voter eligibility requirement into the voter registration form for military and overseas voters and instructs the EAC to “decertify every voting machine it previously certified.”

The president does not have the power to control elections. According to the Constitution, only states and Congress have the power to make or alter the “times, places and manner” of federal elections. Moreover, Trump does not have the power to instruct the EAC to add a proof of citizenship requirement to the federal voter registration form, and “adding such a requirement to the federal form would violate federal law and the Constitution,” according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

The majority of Trump’s executive order has been blocked by a federal judge after facing multiple legal challenges.

Trump has since floated an executive order that would ban mail-in voting altogether and get rid of voting machines. “I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on August 18. “WE WILL BEGIN THIS EFFORT, WHICH WILL BE STRONGLY OPPOSED BY THE DEMOCRATS BECAUSE THEY CHEAT AT LEVELS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, by signing an EXECUTIVE ORDER to help bring HONESTY to the 2026 Midterm Elections.”

In the post, Trump doubled down on his efforts to federalize the election process, claiming that “the States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes,” and that the states must do what the Federal Government tells them to do. Election experts told WIRED that this was “a completely inaccurate and misleading interpretation of the US Constitution.”