This story has been updated from a story first reported in August.This midterm cycle, the Trump administration has gathered millions of state voter records for law enforcement purposes, endeavored to restrict mail-in voting nationwide, declined the typical practice of inviting international election observers and repeatedly raised the idea of dispatching armed federal personnel to voting locations.The Trump administration broadly describes its actions as an effort to ensure the integrity of the American democratic system after the president's signature election overhaul effort, the SAVE America Act, foundered in the GOP-led Senate.In a statement to NPR in October, White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said that "President Trump has done more than any other President to ensure we have free and fair elections.While extreme Democrats and the media continue to dismiss concerns about voter fraud, the Trump Administration is taking decisive action to protect our elections including prosecuting election crimes, strengthening election infrastructure security, and protecting vulnerable voters from fraud and coercion."This summer, NPR spoke to more than a dozen people who've formed what they describe as an election protection task force.
It's a coordinated effort between Democratic lawmakers and their staffers, election litigators, scholars and nonpartisan good governance organizations.Those involved worry that the administration will point to normal, but poorly understood, parts of American election infrastructure, including slow vote counting in California and Alaska, as evidence of fraudulent behavior.They also say that the administration has long worked to undermine public trust in a secure and transparent election system and has, without constitutional authority, inserted the executive branch into the state-led election process.Democracy Forward — a legal nonprofit that says it works to advance democracy and social progress through litigation, policy and public educat...