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Federal agencies seizing control of state elections [1]

['Ellsworth Toohey']

Date: 2025-08-06

The Justice Department is demanding access to voter files in nine states. Homeland Security agents are showing up at election offices asking to inspect voting machines. And the FBI Director openly threatens to prosecute election officials. These aren't scattered incidents – they're part of a systematic effort to seize federal control over American elections, according to a new Brennan Center analysis.

The Trump administration has transformed federal agencies that once protected elections into instruments that could control them. The DOJ's civil rights division – traditionally focused on defending voters – has lost 70% of its attorneys. Its voting section has shrunk from 30 lawyers to just 6. Meanwhile, new "election integrity" task forces target the officials who run elections, causing one-third to report colleagues resigning due to threats and intimidation.

"What we're seeing is unprecedented," the report states. "The federal government is building infrastructure to potentially interfere with state election systems – something explicitly forbidden by the Constitution."

The administration has also pardoned January 6 rioters and installed election deniers in key positions, moves that could enable future election challenges. Multiple courts have already blocked some actions as unconstitutional, with one judge writing, "The Constitution vests none of these powers in the President."

"This power play poses a grave threat to the future of U.S. election infrastructure," the Brennan Center concludes. "It is also, in many respects, illegal."

Previously:

• The hilarious but sad life of Kristi Noem (video)

• Texas city manager called Kristi Noem 'Homeland Barbie'

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2025/08/06/federal-agencies-seizing-control-of-state-elections.html

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