Ahead of the midterm elections, the federal government under President Donald Trump has systematically altered the landscape of election administration, dismantling longstanding institutional boundaries and placing key voting processes under heightened federal scrutiny. Throughout the year, federal agencies have pursued greater central control over voting systems, replaced career officials with political appointees, and explored unprecedented regulatory mechanisms for mail-in ballots.
Efforts to assert federal authority have manifested across multiple departments. The Department of Justice demanded confidential voter rolls from states, leading to lawsuits against 30 states and the District of Columbia since September 2025. Federal judges have dismissed every lawsuit decided so far, prompting administration appeals and potential Supreme Court review. Meanwhile, the administration deployed Homeland Security Investigations personnel and data systems to investigate illegal voting by noncitizens, yielding 156 charges since the beginning of the second term, according to federal reporting. The Justice Department maintained that its attorneys act honestly and in good faith, while state officials fought the data demands to prevent federal overreach.
Personnel shifts within federal agencies accompanied these policy initiatives. At least 75 nonpartisan career officials in election integrity roles were removed or departed, replaced by approximately two dozen Trump appointees, including figures linked to the election-denial movement. At least 25 of these appointees share close ties to conservative lawyer Cleta Mitchell and her grassroots organization, the Election Integrity Network. Mitchell helped shape the administration’s agenda and supported state and federal iterations of the SAVE Act, which would mandate proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo identification at the polls. In July, Trump also removed the remaining members of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission.
Cybersecurity infrastructure experienced significant structural changes as well. Early in the second term, political appointees at the Department of Homeland Security asked the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to acquire and hack a voting machine for White House review. CISA staff declined, noting that relevant personnel had departed following reductions led by the Department of Government Efficiency. While the request was not fulfilled, state election officials reported waning trust in CISA’s ability to support local preparations for the midterms. A DHS spokesperson previously defended agency restructuring as a correction to a statutory mission distorted by prior leadership.
Mail-in voting procedures faced regulatory challenges originating from executive branch proposals. An initial White House suggestion to require certified mail delivery for all ballots—forcing voters to sign for delivery—was abandoned after the U.S. Postal Service deemed it unfeasible. The administration subsequently issued an executive order establishing new regulations for mail ballots, which the Supreme Court blocked in September until after November. Separately, postal service cost-cutting measures, including consolidated processing hubs and reduced pickup frequencies in remote areas, led to delivery delays during primary elections across states such as Washington, California, Ohio, North Carolina, and Oregon. Postal officials stated that extraordinary measures would prevent similar delays during the general election.
