All eyes are on the midterms, where Republicans face long odds to retain control of the House and an increasingly uphill battle in the Senate. President Donald Trump is trying to change that.
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From executive orders tightening voter requirements to stationing federal agents at polling centers, Trump has repeatedly broken the precedent of former commanders in chief by utilizing the mechanisms of his office to openly involve himself in the success of his party in the midterms.
With less than two months until Election Day, here’s what Trump has tried to change, what courts have stopped and what voters could actually encounter in November.
Transforming Mail-In Voting
Trump and various Republicans have repeatedly made the largely unsubstantiated claim that mail-in ballots are the largest contributor to illegal noncitizen voting. That claim has fueled the president’s attempts to curb the practice, primarily in an April executive order that would require the U.S. Postal Service to send mail-in ballots only to federally verified voters.
Several federal judges soon found the order unconstitutional and issued injunctions preventing the Postal Service from implementing the rule. Those rulings were backed by the Supreme Court on Monday, when seven of the justices issued an unsigned order blocking Trump. Trump-appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh called the rule “arbitrary and capricious” in a and said states would not have enough time to implement it before midterms.
“It is a big loss for Republicans, and America itself, and makes cheating by the Radical Left ‘Dumocrats,’ on Mail-In Ballots, a much easier thing to do – And now they have an open field to do so!” Trump wrote in a social media post.
With various states already sending out ballots, mail voting is likely to continue operating under existing state rules. But there’s a chance Trump could try to bring the rule back in 2028 based on the Supreme Court’s decision.
“They didn’t rule on the merits in this case, and so Trump could bring this up again after the election,” says Todd Belt, a professor of political management at George Washington University. “They really said, ‘It’s just too close,’ and they didn’t say that this case has no standing.”
Belt is undecided on whether Trump will attempt to bring the order back at all.
“If he thinks that the 2028 elections will be part of his legacy and a vindication of his presidency, then he’ll probably still try to do whatever he can to bend the rules to help his party,” Belt says.
Requiring Proof of Citizenship
Trump issued an executive order in March 2025 directing the Election Assistance Commission to require unregistered voters to show proof of citizenship via passport or other physical documentation.
The limited documents accepted under the rule would potentially put millions of eligible voters without papers in hand at risk. The order also included directions to decertify voting machines and provide voter data to the Department of Homeland Security.
A federal judge permanently barred the order in June, writing that the Constitution “does not grant the president any specific powers over elections.”
But the fight may not be over. Congressional legislation dubbed the SAVE Act would require proof of citizenship when registering to vote. The bill has already passed the House but awaits an uncertain fate in the Senate as the upper chamber returned from recess on Monday. Trump has made his support of the bill clear, previously refusing to sign anything into law until the SAVE Act was passed.
Federal Agents at Polling Stations
Earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could be stationed at polling places nationwide this election season. Mullin added that agents would address only potential threats or area warrants.
White House border czar Tom Homan added Monday that the agency has no plans to carry out sweeps or raids on polling centers. But voting rights groups are taking the potential seriously.
Last week, a coalition of advocacy groups and the city of Denver collectively brought a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration’s ability to send ICE agents to polling centers. Federal law prohibits “armed men” at election sites “unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States.”
Changing State Voter Rolls
Another March executive order directed the Department of Justice to create a modified version of a DHS immigration database intended for purging voter rolls nationwide. The Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) system was originally created to verify citizenship status for federal benefit applicants.
A federal judge blocked the system’s use in elections, leading the DOJ to request a pause that an appeals court subsequently denied. Now, the administration is again asking the Supreme Court to hand down a decision.
While the case remains in legal limbo, the DOJ has already sued 30 states and Washington, D.C., for refusing to provide statewide voter registration lists. Twenty-three of those cases have been dismissed so far. Despite the repeated losses, the department recently instructed 29 states and D.C. to preserve 2024 election records.
What Do Trump’s Efforts Mean for the 2026 Midterms?
Trump’s various attempts to reshape future election cycles have been unsuccessful at worst and legally uncertain at best. Belt says the cases are indicative of how clear-cut election law continues to be despite some of Trump’s legal wins in other realms.
“It has to do with how plain the law is and how difficult it is to craft out an exemption for this president,” Belt says.
But there’s still the question of whether Trump’s tactics will scare voters out of showing up to polling stations. Fear of federal agents or legal retaliation remains real even as court cases are decided. However, Belt is convinced that Trump’s unpopularity will attract voters.
“It’s possible that, you know, a lot more people are going to go out of their way to probably not use mail-in ballots,” Belt says. “But I think we’re going to have a pretty high turnout in this election. That’s going to offset that because we have a very, very unpopular president, and a lot of people are going to want to register their discontent.”
How Are Democrats Responding?
The Association of State Democratic Committees unveiled a plan on Monday to combat what it considers election intimidation through volunteer-based monitoring of poll stations. Dubbed the “New Battlefield Project,” the initiative aims to train volunteers to staff a quarter of the nation’s 95,000 polling stations during the midterms.
Volunteers will be trained to respond to voters’ needs and can provide assistance if a voter feels they are being intimidated. The initiative will also focus on encouraging early and mail-in voting methods.
Belt says attracting voters is a key path for Democrats to counteract some election interference tactics.
“They’re very concerned that some of the things that have been done by the Trump administration, as well as his allies at the state and local levels, will cut into some of their margins, so they want to get out the vote as best they can,” Belt says.
But de-escalating situations may also be important if tensions rise between the blue-vested Democratic volunteers and existing poll-monitoring programs, expected to appear in droves this election cycle.
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