The 10 Scariest Election Scenarios, Ranked

Chiraag Bains, a former attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and current director of legal strategies for Demos, worries that “Trump will instigate intimidation and violence—possibly even using the military or federal agents—to suppress the vote in Black and brown communities. The Republican National Committee was recently released from a 35-year consent decree preventing it from running so-called ballot security operations to intimidate voters in communities of color. It is now recruiting 50,000 volunteers in 15 states to watch the polls and challenge voters they believe are suspicious. True the Vote, a group that seeks to make voting ‘like driving and seeing the police following you,’ is recruiting police officers and ex-military [officials] to patrol precincts in ‘inner city’ and Native American precincts.” Bains also notes that the president could claim authority under the Insurrection Act to interfere with voting: “He might allege unsubstantiated voter fraud by undocumented immigrants, foreign governments, antifa, or even Democrats as an act of ‘rebellion.’ He could invoke another part of the act that allows the use of the military to stop a ‘conspiracy’ that deprives people of their constitutional rights. The argument would be that voter fraud cancels out the votes of qualified voters. In this way, Trump might perversely claim federal troops are needed at the polls or during the canvassing of mail ballots to protect voting rights. … There are still more cynical tactics within reach. Last month, Trump sent federal agents to Portland, ostensibly to protect federal property amid ongoing racial justice protests. … What if he sends agents to Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, and Philadelphia on the same pretense, just in time for the election?”

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