A draft emergency executive order to declare a national emergency to allow President Donald Trump to take unprecedented control over voting is being circulated by anti-voting activists who said they are in coordination with the White House.

Voting rights experts, democracy advocates, and at least one state election chief said Trump doesn’t have the authority to claim such powers — and any attempt would be blatantly unconstitutional.

The draft order — which is said to be based on a conspiracy theory that China interfered with the 2020 election — would allow Trump to unilaterally ban mail-in ballots and voting machines on the basis that they are susceptible to foreign interference.

The order comes from MAGA activists who have been coordinating with the White House. One of the advocates for the order is Peter Ticktin, the attorney for Tina Peters, the former GOP Colorado county clerk who is currently serving a nine-year state prison sentence for her role in a 2021 voting system breach, in an attempt to find voter fraud based on election conspiracies.

The Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution explicitly gives states — not the president — sole authority over elections.

  • AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    And who the fuck is going to stop him? He’s been doing shit that’s unconstitutional this whole time. He’s going to rig the election and have a third term, and all our politicians will do is write strongly worded letters.

    • TerdFerguson@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      Until people like you are thinking “It’s gonna have to be me” then the situation will not likely improve.

      • AdolfSchmitler@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        That wasnt very specific. :(

        Do you mean “it’s gonna have to be me” like that guy who tried to sneak into Mara a Lago and was shot by the secret service? Or maybe that guy who missed his shot?

        Or do you mean that me specifically is going to have to rally people in my neighborhood, then my city, my state, and then most of the country to physically resist and arrest our leaders and have them stand trial for their crimes while having the bravery to leave your wife and kids behind to potentially die trying seems a little beyond my scope to be honest.

        • orioler25@lemmy.world
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          1 hour ago

          Adolf Schmitler doesn’t have the stomach for bold collective action, who would’a guessed.

  • CptOblivius@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    This would be the end of a free USA. Real authoritarianism. The end. Fake elections from here on, just like Russia, Venezuela, etc. We are screwed if this happens. The fascists are winning.

    • orioler25@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      Is this meant to be in character, or did you seriously only realize the USA was authoritarian when it started being mean to white people?

      • CptOblivius@lemmy.world
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        55 minutes ago

        It wasn’t necessary athoritarian previously. It was really following the will of the people of the time. Essentially white dudes voting in white dudes to protect their shitty interests. That is not where the majority of the population is now. Society has shifted beyond where the government is, that is why they are trying to control the voting process.

        • orioler25@lemmy.world
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          17 minutes ago

          What about that time it used genocide against dozens of indigenous nations to expand, or became a police-slave-state that codified naturalized racism, or restricted voting access along race and gender until forced otherwise, or adopted an organised military to suppress unions, or spent decades intervening and invading countries that elected governments who said mean things about the US, or when it suppressed climate change knowledge for decades, or when it constructed a mass - surveillance apparatus over a century, or when it imprisoned the largest number of people anyone has on the planet to perpetuate forced labour based on that one time it was a police-slave-state? I didn’t even mention the Patriot Act or how they use nukes.

          Again, are you meant to be the actual Cpt. Oblivious, or is it meant to be a dig on me like the joke is unclear. Above is more for the benefit of any chuds who may feel validated by your previous comment.

  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    If Trump successfully fixes this election…

    A lot of Americans wouldn’t only tolerate Trump fixing the election, they’d support it. Celebrate it, even.

    Much of the rest of America doesn’t fully appreciate the threat. Many are just oblivious, but others are complacently holding on to their faith in our legal and political institutions. They believe in our system, and they believe it will ultimately hold up against the threat of a fascist takeover. I hope they’re right, but I don’t share their conviction. I think our institutions are far more vulnerable than many of them realize. Frankly, I think they’re unwavering devotion borders on hubris.

    And my concerns about the integrity of our system are not baseless. I have seen our systems tested multiple times over the past few decades, essentially my entire adult life, and I would say the resiliency of our system has been… mixed, at best.

  • minorkeys@lemmy.world
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    16 hours ago

    So who intervenes when he physically tries to control the election processes in states? Who certifies the election results, JD Vance?

    He can just claim any state election is fraudulent because they didn’t do what he said, reject the results in any state the gop didn’t win enough and argue the GOP reps can stay in power until an election happens the way he wants, all while claiming the gop definitely won a majority, with no proof. He will not admit to the loss of control of congress and will not leave the white house peacefully if he’s impeached.

    Americans had better get ready for a violent transfer of power. MAGA will believe dems stole the election this time and they won’t sit by and let government function, Trump will still be president while all this happens and use that authority to incite insurrection against the constitution.

    • Who certifies the election results, JD Vance?

      No. (de jure, at least, who knows what will actually happen in practice)

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_Count_Reform_and_Presidential_Transition_Improvement_Act_of_2022

      The law identifies the governor – or, in the case of Washington, D.C., the district’s mayor – as responsible for submitting certificates of ascertainment, unless otherwise specified by state laws or constitutions. In addition, a certificate that was revised as ordered by a state or federal court judgment before the meeting of electors supersedes all previous certificates.

      The law clarifies that the vice president’s role in the counting of the electoral votes is “solely ministerial,” with no power to “determine, accept, reject, or otherwise adjudicate or resolve disputes over the proper list of electors, the validity of electors, or the votes of electors.”

      • minorkeys@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        That’s what the law says. But they can just say different and we’re in conflict. Even if the courts decide against Trump, there no way to actually enforce that judgement.

    • ChadGPT2@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      Many states have the power to maintain state guards. This is a military force that cannot be federalized.

      • minorkeys@lemmy.world
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        14 hours ago

        All it takes is the guardsmen or the chain of command doing what Trump says. Laws don’t matter right now. What people choose to do does.

        • Sektor@lemmy.world
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          13 hours ago

          Unless the army says no there is no mechanism for stopping them. As you said laws don’t matter. I feel they already won.

          • minorkeys@lemmy.world
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            3 hours ago

            If they choose to follow Trump, there isn’t, no. They have to convince people to refuse Trump’s orders if they’re illegal or when he has no authority. Re-committing to the system of government and the rules of the distribution of power is necessary. Its hearts and minds right now. Follow Trump or follow the Constitution and its founding doctrines. You can’t serve both because Trump and the GOP have abandoned the constitution already. They can’t coexist.

    • Wataba@sh.itjust.works
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      16 hours ago

      Funny, because anti-voting activists seems to describe a good chunk of the db0 community these days.

      Then again, maybe it’s more fitting than ironic after all.

  • doesit@sh.itjust.works
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    12 hours ago

    Doesn’t really matter. They have plenty of options. Here some options based on what we know already.
    Influencing elections trough social media. Mercer and Bannon were succesful through facebook to make brexit a thing. Now, with the technological advancements and all the DOGE data this is very realistic.
    Or going to war with Canada right before the elections.
    Or, in 1 year or so, ICE ($85 billion budget) will be fully staffed. They’ll be operational to fulfill their true militia role.
    They stormed the Capitol, jfc. Those goons are ICE now.
    We can be sure of 1 thing. Either way, power will not be handed over.

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    The Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution explicitly gives states — not the president — sole authority over elections.

    For this very fucking reason.

    • spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      22 hours ago

      The 6 corrupt Supreme Court justices have shown that waving a copy of the Constitution lightly over their rulings is close enough for them. They’ve made it very clear that states have no real authority over elections by forcing them to include Trump on their ballots after he clearly incited an insurrection.

      Our laws and Constitution are meaningless with this Supreme Court.

    • jontree255@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      The Constitution is as strong as the paper it’s written on.

      As OP stated. SCOTUS is captured by a complicit majority that wants a right wing theocracy.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    23 hours ago

    That “blatantly illegal” part should be a key part of every headline dealing with this anti-American treachery.