Election officials prepare for possible midterm election interference

Scott McDonell's training slideshow for poll workers covers what to do in case of fire or flood. A few years ago, the clerk for Dane County – it includes Madison and is Wisconsin's second most populous county – added de-escalation training in case a voter became aggressive.

The Democrat said he is adding a new slide this year: "What to do if the FBI shows up at your office and what not to do."

And he isn't the only one. Multiple election officials told USA TODAY they are preparing in case the federal government interferes in the midterm elections.

Nine states have already held their primaries. On May 19, six more will do the same.

Ahead of every local and state election, officials spend months planning for a variety of emergency scenarios and plotting out in detail how they will respond. This can include changing routes to get ballots to the counting location if there is traffic on election night, sending replacement machines to a polling location if some stop working and safeguarding ballots if there is a flood or fire. Local police, fire departments and emergency management teams are involved.

President Donald Trump's threats of federal involvement in the midterm elections have alarmed many of the nation's thousands of election officials. For the first time, they are factoring in what they will do if National Guard troops or immigration officials are sent to polling sites, if federal agents demand access to ballots or election machines or if the U.S. Postal Service stops delivering ballots once the polls close, regardless of state law.

The Trump administration has placed 2020 election deniers in powerful positions, has attempted to seize election materials in several swing states and has threatened to send federal authorities to polling locations.

"I'd do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections. We have to have honest elections," Trump told reporters at the White House May 12.

Kim Pytleski, the clerk for Oconto County, Wisconsin, doesn't expect such a rural area to be targeted. But if it is, the Republican wants poll workers to welcome federal authorities in and treat them like election observers. And then those workers should call her, she said.

If the FBI were to show up with a warrant for election machines, Pytleski added, "it would give me pause. Obviously, I'm not going to defy a warrant, but you'd be sure I'd be going with them. Whether they wanted me or not."

Trump has also signed two executive orders that would give the administration unprecedented control of who can vote. One would require identification to vote nationwide. It has been blocked by multiple courts and the administration is appealing. The second instructs the Postal Service to refuse to deliver ballots for anyone not on a newly created federal list of registered voters. States and voting rights groups have sued, arguing it usurps the Constitution, which says states, not the president, has control over how elections are run.

McDonell, meanwhile, has prepared by consulting attorneys who have experience with election cases and the federal courthouse.

Dane County law enforcement, he said, won't challenge National Guard troops and federal immigration authorities.

"The only recourse is really (a) legal one," he said. "The courts have been really good. They've turned back efforts in the past."

At least 71% of local election officials have done some preparation or planning for scenarios that could disrupt election administration, including requests for access to voting machines and voter data and Postal Service policy changes, according to a 2026 survey of election officials conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice.

Half of the respondents said they were worried about political interference and 45% said they were concerned about politically-motivated investigations of their work.

The Brennan Center is involved in challenging some of Trump's moves.

Most election officials have never had to consider what they would do if the executive branch inserts itself, David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, told USA TODAY. Becker is a former Department of Justice lawyer.

"Election officials are worried. Their job is hard enough. They're already under-resourced. They've already been the subject of abuse, threats and harassment for six years because of lies spread about by losing candidates. And now they have to face the prospect of a desperate federal government seeking to interfere in an election that they appear to be very worried about," Becker said.

Federal law bans troops and "armed men" from being sent to the polls. Becker said he doesn't think that will happen. He's more concerned that the president and his administration is spreading disinformation about the safety of election machines and mail in ballots as well as efforts to interfere with state and local election officials as they count ballots.

The best thing states and counties can do, Becker said, is have election attorneys on speed dial. So far, the courts have been a "guardrail," he said.

"The president does not get to set election policy. Doesn't matter if he signs an executive order. Doesn't matter if he says it in a post on social media. The president, by design of the framers, has no power over the administration of elections in the United States," Becker said.

McDonell said clerks across the nation should plan now about what they will do.

"It's a big concern. I think clerks around the country need to get together with their lawyers and start talking about this," he said. "They need to go through some of these scenarios and workshop it, and they need to start it now."

Dickinson College President John Jones III, a retired Pennsylvania federal district judge, agreed that states and localities should prepare to push back on efforts from the administration.

"There'll be law firms at the ready...because you literally could have something develop on election day during the vote count," he said.

State officials are preparing as well, including by hosting trainings to help clerks prepare for all kinds of emergencies.

Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, said her office has hired a new attorney for rapid response on election day and have the governor and attorney general playing bigger roles in emergency planning than ever before.

"A lot of things that Americans are worried about, we are planning for," Griswold said.

Washington state authorities are monitoring court challenges to Trump's executive order concerning the Postal Service and are encouraging voters to use ballot drop boxes, said state Attorney General Nick Brown, a Democrat.

In Boone County, Missouri, Clerk Brianna Lennon, a Democrat, said she tells volunteer poll workers they should call her immediately if law enforcement officers show up.

"We don't want them to be put into a situation where they feel like they need to handle something that is far above their pay grade," Lennon said. "A lot of it is making sure that we have good lines of communication."