A draft emergency executive order to declare a national emergency to allow President Donald Trump to take unprecedented control over voting is being circulated by anti-voting activists who said they are in coordination with the White House.

Voting rights experts, democracy advocates, and at least one state election chief said Trump doesn’t have the authority to claim such powers — and any attempt would be blatantly unconstitutional.

The draft order — which is said to be based on a conspiracy theory that China interfered with the 2020 election — would allow Trump to unilaterally ban mail-in ballots and voting machines on the basis that they are susceptible to foreign interference.

The order comes from MAGA activists who have been coordinating with the White House. One of the advocates for the order is Peter Ticktin, the attorney for Tina Peters, the former GOP Colorado county clerk who is currently serving a nine-year state prison sentence for her role in a 2021 voting system breach, in an attempt to find voter fraud based on election conspiracies.

The Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution explicitly gives states — not the president — sole authority over elections.

  • brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    edit-2
    2 hours ago

    The draft order […] would allow Trump to unilaterally ban mail-in ballots and voting machines

    The fucking headline even said it was illegal. It wouldn’t “allow” him to do shit.

    It would be him CLAIMING he has some power that he doesn’t have. And EACH AND EVERY STATE needs to just fucking ignore it, run their elections as they are the sole arbitrators of elections according the the constitution.

    It’s not even a fucking presidential election. IT DOESNT TOUCH THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH, and therefore EXECUTIVE orders are even more absurd.

  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    2 hours ago

    If Trump successfully fixes this election…

    A lot of Americans wouldn’t only tolerate Trump fixing the election, they’d support it. Celebrate it, even.

    Much of the rest of America doesn’t fully appreciate the threat. Many are just oblivious, but others are complacently holding on to their faith in our legal and political institutions. They believe in our system, and they believe it will ultimately hold up against the threat of a fascist takeover. I hope they’re right, but I don’t share their conviction. I think our institutions are far more vulnerable than many of them realize. Frankly, I think they’re unwavering devotion borders on hubris.

    And my concerns about the integrity of our system are not baseless. I have seen our systems tested multiple times over the past few decades, essentially my entire adult life, and I would say the resiliency of our system has been… mixed, at best.

  • FreddiesLantern@leminal.space
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    7
    ·
    edit-2
    4 hours ago

    Anti-voting activists<=> fascists/nazis

    Young women<=> children

    Alternate facts<=> lies

    We HAVE to keep calling out media for spreading misinformation.

  • doesit@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    4 hours ago

    Doesn’t really matter. They have plenty of options. Here some options based on what we know already.
    Influencing elections trough social media. Mercer and Bannon were succesful through facebook to make brexit a thing. Now, with the technological advancements and all the DOGE data this is very realistic.
    Or going to war with Canada right before the elections.
    Or, in 1 year or so, ICE ($85 billion budget) will be fully staffed. They’ll be operational to fulfill their true militia role.
    They stormed the Capitol, jfc. Those goons are ICE now.
    We can be sure of 1 thing. Either way, power will not be handed over.

    • Stormy@thelemmy.club
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      2 hours ago

      Or going to war with Canada right before the elections

      Mexico. They’re stirring shit in Mexico right now. had a cartel guy killed, shut down the air space near the border for drone and strikes about a week ago, and are and running a psyop about whats really happening in the us right now.

  • Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    4 hours ago

    Heavily armed ICE agents to be stationed at all polling places “to prevent illegal immigrants voting”.

    Calling it now.

  • minorkeys@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    18
    ·
    7 hours ago

    So who intervenes when he physically tries to control the election processes in states? Who certifies the election results, JD Vance?

    He can just claim any state election is fraudulent because they didn’t do what he said, reject the results in any state the gop didn’t win enough and argue the GOP reps can stay in power until an election happens the way he wants, all while claiming the gop definitely won a majority, with no proof. He will not admit to the loss of control of congress and will not leave the white house peacefully if he’s impeached.

    Americans had better get ready for a violent transfer of power. MAGA will believe dems stole the election this time and they won’t sit by and let government function, Trump will still be president while all this happens and use that authority to incite insurrection against the constitution.

    • Who certifies the election results, JD Vance?

      No. (de jure, at least, who knows what will actually happen in practice)

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_Count_Reform_and_Presidential_Transition_Improvement_Act_of_2022

      The law identifies the governor – or, in the case of Washington, D.C., the district’s mayor – as responsible for submitting certificates of ascertainment, unless otherwise specified by state laws or constitutions. In addition, a certificate that was revised as ordered by a state or federal court judgment before the meeting of electors supersedes all previous certificates.

      The law clarifies that the vice president’s role in the counting of the electoral votes is “solely ministerial,” with no power to “determine, accept, reject, or otherwise adjudicate or resolve disputes over the proper list of electors, the validity of electors, or the votes of electors.”

    • ChadGPT2@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      7 hours ago

      Many states have the power to maintain state guards. This is a military force that cannot be federalized.

      • minorkeys@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        9
        ·
        6 hours ago

        All it takes is the guardsmen or the chain of command doing what Trump says. Laws don’t matter right now. What people choose to do does.

        • Sektor@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          4 hours ago

          Unless the army says no there is no mechanism for stopping them. As you said laws don’t matter. I feel they already won.

    • super_user_do@feddit.it
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      7 hours ago

      here in italy there was a referendum about increasing workers’ rights but all the right wingers siad that voitng is for communists who eat babies and that if you vote you vote you want the shadow elite governmetn to eradicate all the italian culture to replace it with a muslim califfate and remove the existencve of christianity from the history of humanity, but now that we’re about to vote for the government-supported judiciary reform that will give the governmetn direcet control over the election of the judges, all right wingers are rushing to vote

      • myrmidexA
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        5 hours ago

        that will give the governmetn direcet control over the election of the judges

        Weird, in Belgium a similar law was struck down by the constitutional court the other day. Hearing this from Italy, I can’t help but think this is being orchestrated on a higher level.

    • Wataba@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      8 hours ago

      Funny, because anti-voting activists seems to describe a good chunk of the db0 community these days.

      Then again, maybe it’s more fitting than ironic after all.

  • Robonauta@piefed.co.za
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    53
    ·
    14 hours ago

    Certainly THIS illegal act will be the one that makes the justice wake up, and not just another one swept under the rug because “akshually, the president cannot do crime” - as per SCOTUS

    • Typhoon@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      22
      ·
      edit-2
      13 hours ago

      Certainly THIS illegal act will be the one that makes the justice wake up

      Or the American people.

      • FluorideMind@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        24
        ·
        13 hours ago

        This is my hard limit of taking up arms. IDK about you guys but I think bypassing an election to steal a third or more terms is blatant tyranny and should kick off a revolution.

        • myrmidexA
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          edit-2
          5 hours ago

          Pedophiles rampant in government, the neo-sturmabteilung roaming the streets, but capturing the election will rouse the masses? Label me skeptical.

        • TotallynotJessica@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          10
          ·
          10 hours ago

          Seriously though, if this doesn’t get a lot of people up in arms, nothing will improve for generations. If people accept tyranny, they will continue to get tyranny. Simple as.

  • BigMacHole@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    83
    ·
    15 hours ago

    As a Constitution Loving QAnon believer who HATES Pedophiles AND Corruption I APPLAUD the President, who Raped Children with Jeffrey Epstein, taking UNCONSTITUTIONAL Control of Elections!

    • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      68
      ·
      edit-2
      14 hours ago

      It really is anticlimactic.

      We get an honest to god pedo cabal, and a federal powergrab, and the response from factions who dedicated entire lives to warning, as loud as they can shout, about these two exact things is…

      “Meh?”

      Meanwhile, it seems the world is chanting for the Clintons to burn at the stake; the opposite of what they expected?


      I would be so confused if I was QAnon.

      • Kraiden@piefed.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        47
        ·
        14 hours ago

        the world

        I know it may feel that way, but I assure you, the rest of the world is watching the US right now like this:

        wtf.gif

        • Joeffect@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          14
          ·
          12 hours ago

          This is one of those times I would support another country kidnapping a president just like our government has done…

          Freedom of speech is basically not even a thing any more, the chance that someone shows up to my door for saying this is not 0 like it should be.

          Its crazy, what these people are allowed to get away with and the fact that the democrats are not saying so every day as loud as they can just like these fools have done constantly in the past… says a lot about the whole situation.

          Its frustrating beyond belief and it always seems to be getting worse.

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    46
    ·
    14 hours ago

    The Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution explicitly gives states — not the president — sole authority over elections.

    For this very fucking reason.

    • spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.worksOP
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      22
      ·
      13 hours ago

      The 6 corrupt Supreme Court justices have shown that waving a copy of the Constitution lightly over their rulings is close enough for them. They’ve made it very clear that states have no real authority over elections by forcing them to include Trump on their ballots after he clearly incited an insurrection.

      Our laws and Constitution are meaningless with this Supreme Court.

    • jontree255@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      13 hours ago

      The Constitution is as strong as the paper it’s written on.

      As OP stated. SCOTUS is captured by a complicit majority that wants a right wing theocracy.

    • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      8 hours ago

      If we wanna be technical, there’s nothing to do. They can saber rattle, but until the executive order is signed, there’s not really much to do. It’s already illegal, so working towards making it illegal is silly.

      There’s also the fact that even if he signed it, congress wouldn’t really play a part in what comes next. It would get struck down by the courts, make its way to the Supreme Court, and then who the fuck knows.

      Now, do I think the republican majority congress would actually stop it if given the choice? Not likely.

      • brygphilomena@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 hours ago

        Literally draft the documents they need to pass to override his “emergency” and put it before Congress the moment he tries this bullshit. Congress has the power to nullify any “emergency” he declares.

        Write up articles of impeachment.

        At least prepare it all and make it clear to the people you have it ready.

        And keep fucking doing it. Shut down any and all congressional action until this shit stain is out of the white house. Refuse to fund anything. Impeach anyone and everyone they can that is involved in this.

        Hold congressional hearings over and over and compel these fascist fucks to waste their fucking time answering questions we already know. Make them say it out loud. Then fucking spread their fucked up answers far and wide. Not just in democratic mailers asking for money, but to every influencer.

      • USAmericans are living in turmoil, struggling to makes ends meet; We see headlines like this, and then we see our representatives—Democrat representatives—sit around. I’m aware this order is illegal, and maybe it would be “pointless” to reiterate that; but maybe it wouldn’t. Maybe restating the president can’t take control of elections would actually persuade enough of the Supreme Court to tell Trump to ask Congress. Maybe a few defectors would join Democrats in refusing to give Trump that control. What else are our representatives going to be doing? Attending lobbyist parties?

        This is why so many USA folks are bitter and jaded about our nation, the Democratic Party, and voting in general. We have seen resistance efforts against ICE, especially now in Minneapolis and St. Paul. We’ve seen lawyers and civil rights activists assemble to assist marginalized groups. Soup kitchens and food pantries continue to get essential support, even during this economic recession. During the shutdown, while SNAP benefits were illegally withheld, even restaurants were offering free meals to SNAP recipients. And not one bit of this was thanks to the so-called opposition party. People with local businesses or full-time jobs—people with family members to care for—are taking on this effort; and the vast majority of the folks making $174,000 a year in their political representative job aren’t involved beyond showing up to their cushy office, walking into the chamber, and pressing the “No” button that they know won’t stop anything. Then, when that vote would have power, they give the All-Clear to the fascists…all three times now.

        Not one member of the Senate even requested the “Big Beautiful Bill” be read out in full—a procedure which likely would have delayed the bill by months. Introducing the bill by name alone requires unanimous consent; and Republicans got it. Again and again we watch as limp-spined Democrats follow their geriatric delulu leader Schumer, and their followers yell at everyone who criticizes them—pro-Palestine protestors; Newsom critics; those calling for resistance—It’s agonizing.

      • shane@feddit.nl
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        7 hours ago

        They could pass a law making it clear that there is no emergency power that would allow the President to interfere with elections.

        The President would veto the law.

        Congress could then overturn the veto

    • danc4498@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      ·
      14 hours ago

      Good point. Issue isn’t with him taking over blue states. It’ll be with him doing this in red states preventing representation of for blue districts. We’ll see Atlanta with 0 democrats elected.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    24
    ·
    14 hours ago

    That “blatantly illegal” part should be a key part of every headline dealing with this anti-American treachery.