The President Can’t Nationalize the Election

Did Donald Trump even read the Constitution (which is equivalent to the job description) before he decided to run for president again? If I had to guess he probably skipped that part given his most recent remarks about nationalizing the midterm elections.

To be clear, it’s wholly unconstitutional for the president to change elections or try to nationalize them in any way. That is a power that is exclusively reserved for the states. Now, that isn’t to say that presidents of yesteryear haven’t used their federal authority to impact elections - they have, but mostly in ways to make our democracy more inclusive; not shroud it in doubt by having one political party be in charge.

After the Civil War, Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes supported federal enforcement of voting rights to protect Black voters from violence and suppression. These efforts did not nationalize elections. Instead, they enforced constitutional rights while states continued to administer voting.

In the 1960s, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act (currently being litigated by the extremist Supreme Court)—often characterized as federal control. In reality, it regulated discrimination, not election administration. States still ran elections; the federal government stepped in only to prevent racial exclusion.

The U.S. was deliberately designed not to have nationalized elections. After fighting the monarchy of Great Britain, the Founders decentralized electoral power, placing it primarily in the hands of states and local governments. Their fear was simple: if one person (a president) or one party controlled elections democracy itself would be inherently challenged and interrogated by those of the other party.

The president calling to “nationalize” elections amid unproven claims of fraud is different. It isn’t about expanding access or protecting voters. It’s about casting doubt on outcomes before votes are even counted, then floating unconstitutional solutions to a manufactured crisis.

The Constitution is clear: states run elections. Congress may regulate them by law, but no president or political party has authority to take control. We can’t allow the president (or anyone else) to bombard us with lies and distractions. The Constitution still matters and we still have a responsibility to keep extremists from dismissing it, treating it as ‘optional’ and further eroding our rights and liberties.

In love & in service,

QM

PS. Shoutout to the democracy champions at the Clark County Elections Department, doing the hard work protecting the integrity of our elections.