"Senior Justice Department officials are exploring whether they can bring criminal charges against state or local election officials if the Trump administration determines they have not sufficiently safeguarded their computer systems, according to people familiar with the discussions.

The department's effort, which is still in its early stages, is not based on new evidence, data or legal authority, according to the people, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. Instead, it is driven by the unsubstantiated argument made by many in the Trump administration that American elections are easy prey to voter fraud and foreign manipulation, these people said.

Voting experts say the push by the Trump administration is alarming, particularly given that it has repeatedly argued, without reliable evidence, that the 2020 election that President Trump lost was affected by mass voter fraud.

"The tactics we're seeing out of D.O.J. right now are building on what we've seen from anti-democracy groups for years," said Dax Goldstein, the program director of election protection at the States United Democracy Center, a nonprofit organization. "They're rooted in the same lies about elections, and they're all meant to create noise and fear and concerns about issues with our elections that just don't exist. Our elections are safe and secure, and election officials are working to keep them that way."

Even after that election [2020], conservative activists continued to hunt for evidence of fraud caused by machines. In 2023, multiple people, including a former state representative, were indicted in Michigan as part of a brazen scheme to illegally obtain and inspect election machines. Tina Peters*, a former county clerk in Colorado, is serving nine years in prison for tampering with voting machines in an effort to prove that the machines had been used to rig the 2020 election against Mr. Trump.

Election experts have also expressed concern that the Justice Department's taking a role in election security could introduce problems or weaknesses to the national electoral infrastructure.

"D.O.J. has the full power of the federal government behind it," Mx. Goldstein said. "And under the guise of election integrity, they could end up using their unique tools to introduce new vulnerabilities to the system."

Justice Dept. Explores Using Criminal Charges Against Election Officials - The New York Times


https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/02/us/politics/justice-department-election-data.html

*Trump has called Tina Peters a "hostage," "political prisoner" and a "patriot." He cannot pardon her state court conviction.

Big mystery here why Dems are underpolling simply because they ratfuck their voters, quash populist yearnings, pander to rich donors, support a genocide, adopt a strategy of "playing possum" while Trump stomps Dem base— why indeed are Dems under-polling?https://t.co/nAh2UjlmZ4

— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) October 15, 2025

This is what I've been saying.
And by the time Bearly realizes I/we were right, it'll be far too late.

I don't even need to read your post to know what it says. Elections will never be free and fair again.

Gavin's going to look silly, redistricting a state where nobody can vote.

> The Democrats don't stand a chance in the midterms

until they do, fingers crossed, presuming president Evil allows the national election to happen

Even though I am still convinced MAGA will do its best to rig the midterm elections or overturn them:

"America is roughly a 33-33-33 nation. Roughly a third of voters are die-hard Democrats, and another third are die-hard Republicans. The other third (or slightly more) are perpetually open-minded and persistently dissatisfied with the new party in power. This dynamic has held firm for most of the past 30 years and shows no obvious signs of shifting. Almost every election since Clinton has flipped control of the White House or Congress.

The number of truly competitive House races is shockingly small roughly 10% of the 435 House seats, give or take. You can thank redistricting at the state level for meticulously chopping the nation into safe havens for very partisan Republicans or Democrats. That means the most important races are often primaries, where voter turnout is low and dominated by activists. Hence, the dominance of hyperpartisans.

Big new policies take years to work their way into Americans' actual lives. Trump's tax cut bill, or Biden's infrastructure and green energy laws, or Obamacare were all substantial wins for the party in power. But any benefits usually take longer for voters to feel than the time left in a two-year election cycle.

So, like clockwork, a new party wins power, feels invincible, believes it'll defy gravity, obsesses about those hyperpartisans who vote in primaries and ticks off both swing voters and the activists on the other side. And then loses again.

What we're watching: The American electorate is so volatile that there are now scenarios in which the GOP could lose its House majority even before next year's midterms.

We told you last week that rising security fears, and even death threats along with MAGA infighting are fueling the once-unthinkable conversation among House Republicans about quitting Congress early.

In a Gallup poll out Friday, Republican approval of Congress is an atrocious 23% halved from a pre-shutdown 54% in September, and down from 63% in March."
Axios