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Voters line up to cast their ballots at Lion\u2019s Field in San Antonio. Credit: Sanford Nowlin<\/p>\nVoters line up to cast their ballots at Lion\u2019s Field in San Antonio. Credit: Sanford Nowlin<\/p>\n
As Texas and the rest of the nation head into midterm elections likely to prove punishing for the party in power, defenders of free and fair elections said they\u2019re preparing for the worst. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Civil rights organizations, elections watchdogs and constitutional attorneys are steeling themselves for attempts by President Donald Trump and his allies to stand in the way of U.S. voters.<\/p>\n
While some may assume the preparations are overkill given Trump\u2019s dismal record in court challenges involving the 2020 election, experts point to the Jan. 6 insurrection and the president\u2019s continued lies about massive voter fraud as indicators of what\u2019s to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that President Trump and his administration are terrified of losing the upcoming election,\u201d Michael Sozan, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, said during a recent press call. \u201cThey and bad actors are actively attempting to sow confusion, fear and doubt about the election system. They appear to be continuing to manufacture lies about the integrity of the elections to enable them ultimately to dispute the valid election results later.\u200b\u201d<\/p>\n
Democrat James Talarico, who is running against Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas\u2019 U.S. Senate race, told NBC DFW this week that his team is preparing for whatever his opponent and the GOP throw his way.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of different scenarios prepared for, because we know that Ken Paxton has a history of going after people\u2019s right to vote at the ballot box, and we know he has a history of trying to overturn election results,\u201d Talarico said. \u201cSo, we\u2019re ready for that, and we\u2019re going to fight to defend Texans and their rights in the courthouse.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the 2020 election, Paxton \u2014\u00a0a dogged Trump ally \u2014\u00a0sued the Jolt Initiative, an Austin-based Latino civic engagement group, accusing it of operating an unlawful voter registration scheme. His office also devoted thousands of staff hours in 2020 and 2021 to searching for evidence of widespread voter fraud.<\/p>\n
The lawsuit against Jolt was thrown out, and Paxton\u2019s office largely came up empty-handed in its quest to prove President Trump actually won the 2020 election.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This week, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche raised alarms among democracy advocates after telling reporters he couldn\u2019t rule out the Department of Justice weighing in on the election certification process.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the DOJ\u2019s intention to, and it\u2019s never our intention to improperly interfere with elections or the state confirmation process or certification process,\u201d said Blanche, who\u2019s faced repeated criticism for turning the DOJ into Trump\u2019s personal legal team. \u201cBut, to say that there are no circumstances that we would ever do that \u2014 of course I\u2019m not going to say that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u200bExperts such as Sozan said they\u2019re preparing for scenarios that range from Trump sending ICE and National Guard troops to the polls to the president ordering the seizure of voting machines and disrupting the count by declaring a national emergency.<\/p>\n
\u200bHowever, experts who spoke to the Current, including Sozan, said they still expect a free and fair election because those scenarios are blatantly illegal. What\u2019s more, U.S. elections are decentralized, with state and county officials responsible for counting ballots. That makes it exceedingly difficult for federal officials to manipulate the results.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u201cThere are huge preparations by pro-democracy forces and allies across the country at the national level, in states and localities, people who are preparing for a lot of these scenarios who have war-gamed this,\u201d Sozan said. \u201cSo, as challenging as I think the next few weeks or couple of months might be, most of us are expecting that this election will be free and fair, and that the people\u2019s will [will] be expressed and exercised.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Wikimedia-Commons-_-Public-Domain.jpg\")
President Donald J. Trump boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House. Credit: Wikimedia Commons \/ Public Domain<\/p>\n
Sabotage scenarios<\/p>\n
\u200bExperts said sabotage attempts by Trump and those under his influence could start at polling stations during early voting.<\/p>\n
\u200bIndeed, former Democratic U.S. Rep. Beto O\u2019Rourke warned during a San Antonio rally and voter-registration drive last month that Trump was likely to send federal immigration agents to intimidate Latino voters.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u201cIf you look Mexican \u2014 if your skin is a shade browner than mine \u2014\u00a0they\u2019re going to stop you, ask you for your papers, send you back home and scare the rest of your family from even showing up,\u201d the former U.S. Senate, gubernatorial and presidential candidate said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u200bO\u2019Rourke\u2019s comments came after ICE and Texas DPS conducted a traffic stop at a Bexar County polling station on the West Side during the May primaries. Although authorities wrote off the location of the stop as a mere coincidence, civil rights advocates said it still stoked fear in many.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u200bEven so, such coordinated intimidation efforts have yet to materialize.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Brazilian national was recently arrested and charged with felony voter intimidation over accusations that he wore an ICE hat and intimidated voters outside a Miami-Dade County polling station. He was not employed by the agency, however.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although the DOJ last week notified counties, including a handful in Texas, that federal agents will be deployed to monitor polling stations, ACLU Texas senior staff attorney Thomas Buser-Clancy said during a press call last week that deployment of ICE or the National Guard to polling sites is unlikely to occur because the legal prohibitions are so clear.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u201cThere are a multitude of statutes that would make that illegal,\u201d Buser-Clancy said. \u201cThere are a host of other laws that prevent and prohibit voter intimidation, as well as specific laws that prohibit members of the military from interfering with elections. All of these laws act as safeguards and would render any attempt to have ICE at the polls illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u200bAnother scenario discussed among civil rights watchdogs is the possibility that Trump could order the National Guard to seize voting machines or pressure local election officials to change or cancel the results.<\/p>\n
\u200bHowever, that also would be difficult to pull off, since county officials are clearly charged with counting the votes \u2014 regardless of Trump\u2019s wishes. Although the MAGA movement has gained control of portions of the federal government, county election departments largely remain independent from the political pressures coming from Washington, advocates maintain.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u200b\u201cCounty officials themselves \u2014\u00a0without state support \u2014\u00a0are preparing a great deal, and the Texas Association of County Elections Officials has been really at the forefront of making sure that its members, county election officials, are armed with all of the information and resources needed,\u201d Sarah Xiyi Chen, a senior supervising attorney at the Texas Civil Rights Project, recently told members of the press.<\/p>\n
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Voting rights experts said the best way to thwart Trump\u2019s attempts to interfere with the election is to get out and cast your ballot. Credit: Sanford Nowlin<\/p>\n
Standing vigilant<\/p>\n
\u200bMark Lindeman, a policy and strategy director at nonpartisan advocacy group Verified Voting, agrees that it would be nearly impossible for Trump to effectively interfere with local officials\u2019 ballot counting and voting processes.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u201cPresidents don\u2019t run elections; he can\u2019t snap his fingers and make things turn out the way he wants,\u201d Lindeman said. \u201cIn the end, elections belong to voters, and I think election officials around the country are well prepared to tune out the noise and deliver trustworthy results.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cWhen you get down to it, it\u2019s in local officials\u2019 hands despite Trump\u2019s objections to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u200bLocal officials are also acting as election watchdogs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
State Sen. Jos\u00e9 Men\u00e9ndez, D-San Antonio, told reporters last week that his office is in regular contact with Bexar County Elections Administrator Michele Carew to report potentially concerning incidents at polling sites.<\/p>\n
\u200b\u201cWe need to be prepared, and the only way to be prepared is to have full documentation of everything,\u201d Men\u00e9ndez said.<\/p>\n
The state senator is also encouraging anyone who encounters problems at the polls to contact his office.<\/p>\n
The presence of election monitors and legal safeguards don\u2019t guarantee Trump won\u2019t engage in a full-court press to upend election outcomes, however.<\/p>\n
\u200bThe DOJ on Oct. 23 sued to preemptively block Alaska from certifying the results of its U.S. Senate race if the Republican incumbent loses by a narrow margin because he shares a name with another candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., whose party registration is not listed on the ballot.<\/p>\n
Election experts predict the courts will reject that suit. However, they said the best way to counter Trump\u2019s attacks is to refuse to be intimidated by them. The most effective way voters can push back is by getting out and cast their ballots \u2014 and doing so early.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u200b\u201cThe fact that we are preparing for a slew of threats doesn\u2019t mean people should be so worried that they don\u2019t exercise their rights \u2014\u00a0because that means those nefarious actors have won,\u201d ACLU Texas attorney Buser-Clancy said. \u201cI think for the voters getting excited about voting, getting excited about going with their family to vote is the most important thing I would emphasize.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those who encounter issues at the polls or believe their rights are being infringed upon can call 866-OUR-VOTE to report the incident and receive legal advice.<\/p>\n
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