- Prominent MAGA election activist Tina Peters met with Trump this month. Convicted in 2024 for crimes related to an election equipment violation, Peters was released this year after Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) commuted her sentence.
- Peters and his lawyer, Peter Ticktin, also visited Trump at the White House in late June.
- Peters did not respond to attempts to contact her for comment.
Zoom: In a September 30 video call for MAGA election activists broadcast on Rumble, speakers warned of widespread election security violations they said would occur in November — and urgently demanded solutions.
- Ticktin, Trump’s childhood friend, said on the call “that there should be martial law in the event…of another rigged election.”
- “They will probably have to requisition the ballots and election materials to make sure we can get to the bottom of this before anything happens,” he later told Axios.
- Gregory Stenstrom, who testified on allegations of voting irregularities in Pennsylvania in 2020, said he mostly wanted the election suspended for security reasons. Alternatively, he proposed that Trump invoke the National Emergencies Act to force states to change how they conduct elections. Stenstrom could not be reached for comment.
Peters was also on the call. She has been promoting her own plan online since August, which calls for a move to hand-marked paper ballots and a manual recount of all votes when possible.
- “His plan is to secure the paper ballots and recount them by hand,” Ticktin said. In an interview with Colorado Public Radio, he further explained that this would “eliminate any effect of the machines.”
State of affairs: The streamed appeal is a regular feature in this activist community, drawing voices from across the country.
- Host Steve Stern asks his viewers to register with the Republican Party to become poll workers and observers for November. Stern declined an interview request.
Reality check: “Emergency powers are not simply a blank check for the president to do whatever he wants. The president must always act within the Constitution and statutes set by Congress,” said Derek Tisler, elections and government agenda attorney at the Brennan Center.
He said these legal limits include:
- Election calendar: Congress sets the date for the federal election. Trump cannot unilaterally delay the midterm elections.
- Counting and voting systems: States choose their voting system and determine how votes are counted, subject to federal law. Trump cannot impose a nationwide manual recount or order machines to be replaced.
- Emergency and Martial Law Authority: Emergency powers do not allow Trump to override state election laws or constitutional restrictions. Martial law would not give Trump the power to take control of election equipment or override federal and state election laws.
The big picture: Skepticism about the 2020 election extends to the Trump administration, including officials now involved in election integrity.
- Heather Honey, best known for denying the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania and Arizona, is now the Department of Homeland Security’s deputy assistant secretary for election integrity and senior advisor to the ICE director.
- White House adviser Peter Navarro continues to promote his own report on massive voter fraud and irregularities surrounding the 2020 election.
Between the lines: “This election was no surprise to the administration. They’ve been in power for 21 months. We’re 20 days away from this election, and they haven’t done any of this,” said David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research.
- White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told Axios in a statement: “Americans deserve safe, secure, and transparent elections to ensure full confidence in the results. President Trump believes that every legal vote must count, every election must be protected, and Americans must have complete confidence in the integrity of our elections.
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