In a press conference on Feb. 3, President Donald Trump urged Republicans to “nationalize” elections, a claim both unconstitutional and concerning given the implications. Despite backlash from Republican and Democratic lawmakers, Trump has only doubled down, but such an idea concerningly mirrors the power and actions of authoritarian governments elsewhere in the world.
To “nationalize” an election basically means to change who is in charge of facilitating elections and counting the votes in the states. Currently, states are responsible for facilitating and counting the ballots cast in their jurisdiction, as is enforced by Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 in the Constitution, also referred to as the Election Clause.
The Election Clause has been interpreted upon by the Supreme Court, further empowering the states by giving them the power: “to provide a complete code for congressional elections, not only as to times and places, but in relation to notices, registration, supervision of voting, protection of voters, prevention of fraud and corrupt practices, counting of votes, duties of inspectors and canvassers, and making and publication of election returns.” Put simply, the states control the elections on the congressional level.
Trump opposes this and has recently called for change, wanting to “nationalize” or federalize congressional elections. On a podcast with Dan Bongino, Trump’s former deputy FBI director, Trump said: “The Republicans should say: ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least 15 places.’ The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
When asked at a press conference what he meant by this, and what 15 places he was referring to, Trump said, “If you think about it, a state is an agent for the federal government in elections, I don’t know why the federal government doesn’t do them anyway.” He later gives some examples of places where elections have been run “horribly” or are “crooked,” including Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta.
On claims of Trump wrongfully losing the 2020 election, which are unfounded and remain unsound, Trump wants the federal government to control the facilitation of votes in states and the counting of votes in states, claiming that states are corrupt and unable to do it properly themselves, or that states are letting undocumented immigrants vote illegally.
Trump has repeatedly said that people “voted illegally” and that he “won in a landslide,” despite the claims being unsubstantiated and repeatedly proven wrong in court. He claims that undocumented immigrants are voting, which is illegal, and another unsubstantiated claim.
In truth, this call for Republicans to “take over” is a dangerous step forward that invokes images of potential authoritarian overreach. Trump wants the federal government to count the votes of future elections because he did not like the outcome in 2020. He claims there was widespread voter fraud, but imagine the risks of the ruling political party having jurisdiction over the votes of state elections.
If the Republican Party controls the federal government and controls state votes, who is to say they could not do the same things Trump has complained about in order to stay in power? Despite congressional elections constitutionally being in the hands of the states, Trump disregarded that reminder and continues to double down on the claim that there is severe election fraud going on, which remains debunked.
Personally, it reminds me of what was happening during Venezuela’s elections. The opposition party was said to have won by 70% of the vote, yet President Nicolas Maduro claimed victory and remained in power until the recent raid on Venezuela. Who is to say the party in power of the federal government could not do the same if they control the counting of votes?
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Trump might claim the system is broken, but until those claims are proven with substantiated evidence in a court of law, the elections should remain in the hands of the states, lest we want to risk total authoritarian takeover.
