Trump Administration Uses Federal Agencies to Influence Midterm Elections

Donald Trump and his administration utilized federal agencies to interfere with the 2026 midterm elections through a series of legal and administrative actions. The president directed the United States Postal Service to implement rules that would have ended nationwide mail balloting, though these rules were subsequently blocked by federal courts and the United States Supreme Court.

Federal agencies targeted election materials and data across multiple jurisdictions. The United States Department of Justice seized 2020 presidential election ballots from Fulton County, Georgia, and filed lawsuits against 30 states and the District of Columbia to obtain unredacted voter information. Additionally, former national intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard ordered the seizure of Dominion voting machines from Puerto Rico.

While the Department of Justice lost 25 lawsuits regarding voting rolls, the administration continued to pressure election officials to investigate voter fraud. In response, the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA Law circulated a white paper to the judiciary to educate judges on the risks that seizing live election materials poses to the electoral chain of custody.