Today, Explained Can Trump steal the midterms?
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Oct 24, 2026 
Eliza Swearengen-Becker, a Brennan Center voting rights attorney, examines whether Trump can disrupt the midterms. She discusses court challenges to federal election demands, the resilience of state-run voting systems, unsupported claims about noncitizen voters, and the SAVE Act’s documentation hurdles. She also explores weakened voting rights protections, delayed results, election safeguards, and efforts to rebuild trust.
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Courts Block Trump’s Election Interference
- Eliza Swearengen-Becker rates the immediate risk to free and fair elections relatively low because courts have contained major federal interference attempts.
- Courts halted both executive orders and rejected the DOJ’s demands for unredacted voter files in 26 cases.
Decentralization Makes Elections Harder To Capture
- The decentralized election system limits presidential control over voting rules and ballot counting.
- State and local officials have prepared throughout the year, while courts have rebuffed executive-branch attempts to interfere.
State Audits Undercut Noncitizen Voting Claims
- Trump officials threatened criminal prosecution over alleged noncitizen voting, but state audits found the claims exaggerated.
- Louisiana and Utah officials reported no meaningful noncitizen-voting problem, matching national studies and investigations.