It may do no more than provoke more exhausting court challenges, but the Monday announcement by Donald Trump that he would lead more challenges to the American federal election system as carried out in states could affect whether U.S. citizens residing abroad can participate in the 2026 midterms, and other elections.
Trump said on Fox News that his latest move attacking the election system was inspired by Friday's talks in Alaska with Vladimir Putin. Trump described the Russian President as a“smart guy,” who told him he would have won in 2020 if not for fraudulent mail-in votes.
Larry Pihl, an American resident at Lakeside who has been involved with get-out-the-vote efforts, noted that Trump’s announcement was in line with many other vote-restricting efforts by the president and Republicans, such as executive orders, redistricting in Texas and the SAVE Act, which was attempted in March but failed to pass the Senate. Federal efforts to control voting are often thwarted by lawsuits by states, which are in charge of the voting apparatus for federal elections, according to the Constitution.
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