Anti-voting activists said they are circulating a draft emergency executive order that would declare a national emergency and enable President Donald Trump to take control over voting.
The draft order is described as rooted in a conspiracy theory that China interfered with the 2020 election. It would authorize the president to unilaterally ban mail-in ballots and voting machines on the stated ground that they are susceptible to foreign interference.
The activists circulating the draft said they are coordinating with the White House. One advocate identified is Peter Ticktin, an attorney for Tina Peters, the former GOP Colorado county clerk serving a nine-year state prison sentence for her role in a 2021 voting-system breach tied to efforts to find fraud based on election conspiracies.
Voting-rights experts, democracy advocates, and at least one state election chief said the president lacks authority to claim such powers and that any attempt would be unconstitutional. The U.S. Constitutionâs Elections Clause assigns election authority to states, not the president.