State and local election administrators say they are preparing for potential disruptions tied to federal actions ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, after President Donald Trump’s administration moved early in his second term to tighten voting rules and reduce federal election-security staffing. Officials cite concerns ranging from litigation and requests for voter data to the possibility of armed deployments near polling places and immigration enforcement activity that could intimidate voters.
As the 2026 midterm elections approach, state and local voting officials say they are planning for a range of contingencies amid concerns about possible federal overreach.
Steve Simon, Minnesota’s Democratic secretary of state, said election officials routinely plan for unpredictable threats — and he placed possible federal interference in that same category.
“We in the election space have to just use our imaginations, as we would, to be clear, for any threat, whether it's from a foreign actor, whether it's a natural disaster that we can't quite predict. This falls into that category, too.”
Those concerns follow what NPR described as early signals from the Trump administration. NPR reported that roughly two months into Trump’s second term, he signed an executive order aimed at adding new voting restrictions, and that most of it has been blocked by courts. NPR also reported that the administration laid off much of the election security staff at the Department of Homeland Security.
Among the scenarios some election officials have discussed is the possibility of federal troops being deployed to polling places. NPR reported that when it asked the White House about that idea, spokesperson Abigail Jackson called such scenarios “baseless conspiracy theories,” but did not categorically rule them out. NPR also pointed to National Guard deployments in the prior year as a development that, in its reporting, heightened anxiety among local administrators.
Officials have also voiced concern about immigration enforcement activity connected to elections. Noncitizens are already prohibited from voting in federal elections, but NPR reported that people in Trump’s orbit have suggested the idea of having Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at polling places or involved in elections in other ways to guard against noncitizen voting — a step officials warn could deter eligible voters.
Trump has repeatedly criticized mail voting, but NPR reported that he has essentially no direct authority to set state voting rules, because states run elections under the constitutional framework. In a separate example cited by NPR, attorney Cleta Mitchell discussed a potential workaround — the use of emergency powers — during an appearance on the podcast “Washington Watch With Tony Perkins.”
“The president's authority is limited, except that where there is a threat to the national sovereignty of the United States, then I think maybe the president is thinking that he will exercise some emergency powers to protect the federal elections going forward.”
NPR reported that legal experts it spoke with doubted such a strategy would work, but that election officials — including Republicans — are strengthening ties with local and state attorneys in anticipation of possible legal fights, including disputes over access to election equipment.
NPR also reported that more than a dozen states are already engaged in lawsuits with the Justice Department over voter-data requests by the Trump administration. Separately, recent reporting by The Associated Press and other outlets has described a broader Justice Department push for detailed voter registration information that has triggered multiple state-federal legal battles.
NPR framed Trump’s interest in how elections are conducted as both political and personal. The outlet reported that losing the House would complicate the administration’s legislative agenda and that Trump has suggested Democrats could pursue a third impeachment if they win. NPR also cited Trump’s history of trying to influence election outcomes, including the events surrounding Jan. 6 and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, as context for why some officials view the threat of federal interference as more than hypothetical.
