WASHINGTON, United States: A Trump election emergency proposal pushed by some of President Donald Trump’s allies is drawing scrutiny ahead of the U.S. midterm elections. Trump has a plan to steal the midterms even if the courts try to stop him.
The Washington Post reported that Trump supporters, including Steve Bannon and a lawyer close to the president, have urged him to declare a national emergency. They argue such a move could give him power to change election rules.
Wayne Allyn Root raised the idea during a recent Real America’s Voice interview with Trump. Root suggested an emergency declaration could help restrict mail ballots and require proof of citizenship for voter registration.
Trump replied, “Stranger things have happened,” but did not announce that he would take such action. Hofstra University law professor James Sample told the Post that the legal theory was unfounded.
He said the Constitution gives states and Congress authority over elections, not the president. Sample said his concern was not that such a theory would ultimately survive court review.
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Instead, he warned that presidential action could disrupt voting before courts had time to respond. The Post also cited past disputes over election certification.
In 2022, commissioners in Otero County, New Mexico, initially refused to certify results while citing debunked claims about Dominion Voting Systems.
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Separately, voting-rights lawyer Pooja Chaudhuri of the Democracy Defenders Fund warned that abrupt rule changes or law-enforcement activity around polling could discourage some voters from participating.
