JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Throughout his second term, President Trump has repeatedly tried to upend the U.S. voting system. He's launched investigations into the 2020 election, issued executive orders that have attempted to add new restrictions, and demanded voter data from states. What could this mean for the midterms? NPR voting correspondent Miles Parks and congressional reporter Eric McDaniel are here to talk it through with us. Hi there.
ERIC MCDANIEL, BYLINE: Hey.
MILES PARKS, BYLINE: Hi there.
SUMMERS: Miles, I want to start with you. Could you just help us understand how the Trump administration has tried to change the way Americans vote?
PARKS: Sure, though I will also note at this point that for most voters, this election is on pace to look basically identical to 2024, 2022 - basically previous election cycles - even though Trump's actions have inserted a lot of uncertainty. The president notably assigned two executive orders, one aimed at new registration requirements, the other at voting by mail. And both at this point have been blocked by the courts. The Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security are both also investigating the 2020 election, as well as voter fraud more broadly, in novel new ways. And that has many experts and officials worried about what that effort could potentially look like as this election gets underway, specifically on this issue of potential law enforcement interference in either voting or vote counting.
MCDANIEL: It's not just the election administrators. It's Democrats as a whole. I've been reporting on a task force in the Senate where at least 11 Democratic offices, their staff, outside litigators and cross-ideological good governance groups are all working to respond to what they describe as active threats to the election process, as well as prepare for future threats. That's everything from issues at a single voting location to Trump dispatching federal troops or ICE agents to the polls.
SUMMERS: Troops at polling sites?
MCDANIEL: Trump was asked by PBS News back in May - Liz Landers asked about whether he would dispatch the National Guard or ICE agents to voting sites, and he refused to rule it out. He said he'd do anything necessary to protect elections. We should say, troops at pools is illegal. And when I asked the Department of Homeland Security about this specifically, an official told me that ICE agents would not be sent to the polls, and the administration refused to engage with me on what they describe as hypotheticals.
SUMMERS: OK, I want to note here that elections themselves - and here we're talking about the actual process of casting a vote to choose your representation - that is supposed to be a nonpartisan function of our government. So I wonder, is that changing? Is this becoming a partisan issue?
PARKS: Not at the administrative level, really. I mean, there are very few election officials, including Republicans, who have bought into Trump's level of election denial. It's just a lot easier for Democrats to talk about the worst-case scenarios that they're watching for considering that elected Republicans have to obviously worry about the political ramifications of opposing Trump, especially at this early stage, where we haven't seen a lot of these interference efforts actually take place yet.
SUMMERS: Right. Eric, is there a partisan divide in who is actually pushing back public?
MCDANIEL: As far as elected officials on this task force, it's explicitly a Democratic effort. When Republicans talk about election integrity - which they do - they're not addressing Trump's interventions or proposed interventions in the voting process. They're talking about this more-or-less imaginary problem of ineligible folks casting ballots in American elections, which investigations and research showed - and has shown over and over again - is not widespread enough in the United States to shape election outcomes. White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told me, quote, "President Trump has been clear, and he is absolutely right. We fix this now, or we lose our country." That's a call to pass his election overhaul bill, the SAVE America Act.
Separately, Juana, it's worth remembering, before he was speaker of the House, then-Congressman Mike Johnson played a central role in Trump's legal efforts to remain in power in 2020 and 2021 despite losing the presidential reelection effort. I'll be watching to see if Republican lawmakers do take action if some of the big fears of federal involvement in elections, like troops at polls, come to pass.
SUMMERS: Right. OK, but elections - they're run by states. How is all of this playing out for the people who are actually in charge of administering elections?
PARKS: It's complicated. You know, they're threading this needle of not wanting to scare people but also wanting to talk about some of these issues so that way they can reassure voters that the election system is secure and that it is safe to vote. You know, I was talking about this dynamic this summer with a few election officials at an event hosted by the Center for Election Innovation and Research, and Connecticut Secretary of State, Democrat Stephanie Thomas, told me that people approach her all the time who are worried and can't even really describe why.
STEPHANIE THOMAS: Grandmothers approach me concerned, and I say, what are you concerned about? And they say, I don't know, I just feel afraid. So regardless of whether or not any of these things materialize, it is taking a toll on voters.
PARKS: You know, it's worth noting, Juana, that midterm elections are already much lower turnout elections than presidentials. 2022, for instance, lagged way behind 2020, 2024 in terms of turnout. So there's a risk that these sort of ambiguous worries kind of amplify that effect.
SUMMERS: And, Eric, Republicans are in control of both chambers of Congress, and they control what comes up for a vote. So what does that leave Democrats actually able to do other than sounding the alarm, speaking out?
MCDANIEL: I mean, they're planning, right? They've held tabletop games so they're not caught off guard by the same failure of imagination - what they describe to me as a failure of imagination - that caught them off guard five or six years ago, around January 6. Allied groups are also directly involved in litigation to stop the Department of Justice from obtaining state voter rolls, which they describe both as federal overreach and a pretext to encumber eligible voters.
Democrats also have this massive bully pulpit. Lawmakers are some of the most visible folks in their communities, and they're trying to be the connective tissue between local officials and these national resources. Vitally, task force members want to emphasize that they feel prepared and that voters should feel confident casting their ballot. Here's Vanita Gupta, a task force advisor who was the No. 3 in Biden's Department of Justice. She's now at New York University Law School.
VANITA GUPTA: Maybe the process of getting from here to a new Congress may be messier than any of us would like, but we are going to have free and fair elections so long as people don't take for granted their right to vote.
SUMMERS: Miles, there are still voting issues before the court. So what else could still affect this fall's elections?
PARKS: I mean, the thing is, we don't really know, right? Trump is incredibly unpredictable, and voting officials say preparing for all the different scenarios is almost like preparing for a hurricane, where you don't know exactly what's going to happen. That said, election officials are feeling pretty confident right now. The law is very clear on who runs elections and protecting voters' rights. So now it's just a question of reaching these voters and reassuring them.
SUMMERS: NPR's Miles Parks and Eric McDaniel, thanks to both of you.
PARKS: Thank you.
MCDANIEL: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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