US President Donald Trump has again raised eyebrows after failing to rule out declaring a “national security emergency” ahead of the 2026 midterm elections that would let him restrict the use of postal votes and require voters to provide proof of citizenship.

Rick Hasen, a law professor at UCLA and an expert in election law, told The New Republic in an interview published on Wednesday (US time) that simply declaring a national emergency related to election security wouldn’t override states’ voting laws.

“The United States Constitution does not give the president power over elections,” Hasen said.

“We have a decentralised election system. Most of our election rules come from states, from state legislatures passing statutes.”

The latest controversy comes after conservative commentator Wayne Root said put it to Trump that he could declare a national emergency if the US Senate failed to pass his controversial Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE America) Act.

The legislation proposes requiring Americans to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections and show photo ID at the polls.

“If you do this in the next month, we will get photo ID, proof of citizenship and a limit to mail-in ballots, and you don’t even need the Senate’s help,” Root told Trump.

Trump interjected.

“Let me just say that stranger things have happened, OK? I’ll leave it at that,” he said.

Hasen said that even though Trump could not legally seize control of US election systems, a “national emergency” declaration could be used as a tool to discredit Democratic victories in the midterms and also to more generally intimidate Democratic voters.

“He’s trying to scare people into thinking he has more power than he has,” Hasen said.

“That itself makes him powerful, because people are deterred by him. And maybe it deters people from showing up to vote in elections … We should not be complacent at all, even if Trump doesn’t have the power to actually do some of the stuff he’s threatened.”

Hasen also speculated that Trump’s executive order instructing the United States Postal Service not to deliver postal ballots to states that have not shared their voter data with the White House was also part of an intimidation operation. It was signed in March.

“So everybody’s confidence in the elections goes down,” Hasen said.

“It’s like, ‘Why mail back my ballot if the post office isn’t going to deliver it? Why show up at the polling place if there’s going to be armed security there?’. All of these things are, I think, scare tactics. And we shouldn’t give Trump the power – we shouldn’t give Trump room in our heads to panic over whether or not we’re going to have free and fair elections.”

In an analysis published on Wednesday, progressive American commentator Thom Hartmann described Trump as a “cornered rat” who will attempt any trick to maintain Republican majorities in the US Congress.

“It’s going to be up to us and the individual states to make sure our voices are heard and our votes are properly counted,” Hartmann wrote.

“We should be thinking of this as an election continuity exercise that may not be necessary but, like wearing a seatbelt, could be essential if Trump tries to repeat 2020 in some way.”

Hartmann also listed recommendations for Democrats to combat Trump’s election subversion attempts, including educating voters on the constitutional limits of the President’s powers, being prepared to arrest any federal immigration enforcement officers who appear at polling locations, and encouraging early voting.

“For over a decade now, close races immediately produce Republican claims of fraud,” Hartmann said.

“Lawyers, election officials, and communications systems must be fully prepared to deal with lies and propaganda long before November.”

After losing the 2020 US presidential election to former Democrat Joe Biden, Trump refused to concede, lied about the election being “stolen”, pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overtake Biden, and pushed then-vice president Mike Pence to reject certifying the election.

When these efforts to overturn the election failed, Trump encouraged his followers to march to the US Capitol, where they broke into the building, assaulted law enforcement officers, and sent members of Congress running for their lives.

Republished from CommonDreams