The Slow Sabotage of American Elections
How Trump’s assault on electoral integrity threatens the foundation of democratic self-government.
Democracy rarely collapses in a single blow. More often, it is eroded slowly and deliberately—by those who claim to defend it. In the United States, the electoral process has long been the bedrock of democratic legitimacy, a system designed to reflect the will of the people and ensure peaceful transfers of power. Yet that foundation is now under siege, shaken by a concerted campaign to undermine electoral integrity from within.
Donald Trump’s efforts to manipulate election processes, restrict voter access, and delegitimize democratic outcomes represent one of the most serious internal threats to American democracy in modern history. What makes this moment especially perilous is not just the brazenness of the tactics, but their normalization. From falsely crying fraud in the face of defeat to promoting barriers that disenfranchise voters under the guise of “security,” these actions corrode public trust and distort the very mechanisms intended to hold power accountable.
In March 2025, Trump issued an executive order that attempted to reshape federal election procedures unilaterally. The order sought to bar states from counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day—even if postmarked on time—and mandated documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration using the federal form. Legal experts widely condemned the move as unconstitutional. Civil rights organizations and state attorneys general swiftly challenged the order, and federal courts blocked key provisions, reaffirming that the president lacks unilateral control over election administration. But the damage was done: the order signaled a willingness to bypass legislative processes and constitutional limits in pursuit of partisan advantage.
Beyond executive action, Trump has attempted to assert control over independent institutions like the Federal Election Commission, seeking to remove commissioners without cause and install loyalists who could tilt regulatory oversight in his favor. These moves are part of a broader strategy to centralize electoral authority within the executive branch—undermining electoral integrity by weakening the checks and balances that ensure fair and transparent elections.
Efforts to restrict voter access have long been a feature of American politics, but under Trump’s leadership, they have become central to a broader strategy aimed at controlling who gets to participate. Cloaked in the language of “election security,” these measures disproportionately burden communities of color, low-income voters, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities, populations that have historically faced systemic barriers to the ballot box.
Since 2020, Trump and his allies have supported a wave of restrictive voting laws at the state level: aggressive voter roll purges, reduced early voting windows, limited ballot drop boxes, and heightened voter ID requirements. In some jurisdictions, even providing water to voters waiting in long lines has been criminalized. These policies are often justified by unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud – claims repeatedly debunked by courts, election officials, and independent watchdogs.
Trump’s March 2025 executive order attempted to nationalize these restrictions, penalizing states that count mail-in ballots received after Election Day and mandating citizenship documentation for voter registration. Though blocked in court, the attempt itself signaled a dangerous willingness to suppress participation through executive fiat.
The cumulative effect of these efforts is not merely procedural. It’s psychological. When voters are made to feel that their participation is suspect or unwelcome, trust in the system erodes. And when access to the ballot becomes a partisan battleground, the principle of universal suffrage, the cornerstone of democratic legitimacy, is placed in jeopardy.
Perhaps the most corrosive element of Trump’s strategy has been his sustained campaign to delegitimize democratic outcomes. From the outset of his political career, he has framed elections not as contests of ideas but as rigged systems stacked against him, preemptively declaring fraud in races he feared losing and refusing to concede even when results were certified by bipartisan officials and upheld by the courts.
This strategy reached a dangerous crescendo after the 2020 election, when Trump falsely claimed victory, launched dozens of failed legal challenges, and incited a violent attempt to overturn the results on January 6, 2021. But the delegitimization did not stop there. In the run-up to the 2024 election, Trump repeatedly suggested that any outcome other than his own victory would be illegitimate. He amplified conspiracy theories about voting machines, accused election officials of criminal conduct, and encouraged supporters to “monitor” polling places, rhetoric that blurred the line between civic vigilance and voter intimidation.
These tactics are part of a broader effort to erode public trust in the democratic process. Political scientists warn that such behavior mirrors patterns seen in backsliding democracies, where leaders delegitimize institutions to justify authoritarian consolidation. A federal court ruling blocking parts of Trump’s 2025 executive order underscored this danger, noting that the president “cannot short-circuit Congress’s deliberative process by executive order” and that such overreach would cause “irreparable harm” to democratic governance.
The long-term risk is the normalization of distrust. When a significant portion of the electorate is conditioned to believe that elections are inherently fraudulent unless their preferred candidate wins, the peaceful transfer of power, the hallmark of a functioning democracy, becomes fragile, even negotiable.
The health of a democracy is measured not only by the laws on its books, but by the norms its leaders uphold and the trust its citizens place in its institutions. Trump’s systematic efforts to manipulate election processes, restrict voter access, and delegitimize democratic outcomes represent more than isolated abuses. They form a coherent strategy to consolidate power by undermining the very mechanisms designed to check it.
These actions echo the early warning signs of democratic erosion seen in other nations: the politicization of electoral oversight, the marginalization of dissenting voices, and the normalization of disinformation. Left unchallenged, they risk transforming the United States from a democracy governed by the rule of law into a system where power is maintained through fear, confusion, and exclusion.
But this trajectory is not inevitable. Courts have pushed back against executive overreach. Civil society groups continue to mobilize in defense of voting rights. And millions of Americans—across party lines—still believe in the promise of a government that is accountable to the people. The question is whether that belief will translate into sustained action.
Defending electoral integrity is not a partisan cause. It’s the foundation of self-government. If we allow that foundation to crack, we risk losing not just fair elections, but the very idea of a democracy that belongs to all of us.
The threats to electoral integrity are real, but so are the tools to defend it. Legislative reforms like the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act offer pathways to restore federal protections against voter suppression and gerrymandering. Civic education initiatives, especially those that emphasize media literacy and democratic norms, can help inoculate future generations against disinformation and apathy. And watchdog organizations, from local election monitors to national legal advocacy groups, continue to play a vital role in exposing abuses and holding power to account.
Democracy is not self-sustaining. It requires vigilance, participation, and a shared commitment to truth and fairness. The road ahead may be steep, but the path remains open for those willing to walk it.