The Democrats’ leading practitioner of weaponizing the government to attack political opponents, Marc Elias, recently called for my prosecution because I wrote on X that President Trump should exercise existing federal authority to make sure that electronic voting machines are not hacked or compromised in the midterm elections.
I argued on X that those who are demanding that President Trump declare a national emergency regarding the voting machines are asking him to do something he’s already done. On May 15, 2019, he invoked the National Emergencies Act of 1976 as the basis for issuing Executive Order 13873. That order authorizes the commerce secretary, after consultation with other federal officials, to restrict certain information and communications technology and services (ICTS) transactions involving foreign adversaries, including China, when they pose specified national security risks. It aimed to eliminate or mitigate vulnerabilities in various categories of technology and U.S. critical infrastructure, which includes elections.
Since then, the U.S. Department of Commerce developed and promulgated regulations implementing the order, which became effective in February 2024.
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has authority under ICTS regulations to require mitigation of threats to critical infrastructure. Elections are “critical infrastructure” thanks to President Obama and his secretary of Homeland Security in 2017. Because all electronic voting systems used in America’s elections are made in whole or in part in China, the ICTS regulations most certainly apply to voting machines.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in an Aug. 24 letter to the White House, specifically noted the urgent need to mitigate threats to America’s elections infrastructure. That action, along with statements from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and President Trump’s primetime speech on election security in July 2026, provide all the necessary conditions for Commerce Secretary Lutnick to take action.
Democrats’ Reaction to My Post
So what was the reaction of the pro-corrupt election crowd to my post on X? Democracy Docket and its principal, Elias, screamed that I had called for Lutnick to “seize the voting machines.” The next day, Elias and Stuart Stevens, Mitt Romney’s former chief strategist, publicly declared that I should be indicted on RICO charges because of my X post on this topic.
Media Matters included my comments in its article headlined “Election Denial Movement Sets Stage for Chaos on Election Day and its Aftermath.”
What is wrong with these people?
Why are they opposed to taking steps to protect against potential manipulation or exploitation of electronic voting machines? I have never said, nor do I believe, that anyone should “seize” the voting machines — or inspect any parts. I merely reiterated the mitigation plan that DHS outlined earlier this year.
DHS has tied mitigation of vulnerable voting machines to its 2027 FEMA grants. The grants require inclusion of a plan for how the state will mitigate the vulnerabilities of the electronic voting systems. “[S]tates must conduct a manual audit of at least 5% of all ballots cast [in federal races in randomly selected precincts]. This common-sense process involves physically reviewing a random selection of ballots to confirm that the machine reported results match results on the paper ballots. This will ensure accuracy and detect any machine errors or manipulation.”
Secretary Lutnick has legal authority to require the implementation of such a mitigation program on a nationwide basis. Requiring a hand count of a percentage of the voting precincts’ federal races to compare to the machine results and confirm their accuracy is not difficult and it is not “extreme.” Nor is it some wild-eyed Trumpian policy.
Democrats Before Trump Derangement Syndrome
In fact, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., delivered a speech on the Senate floor on July 15, 2019, warning that the nation’s voting infrastructure is woefully outdated and is vulnerable to hacking and external manipulation.
Back in 2019, before Trump Derangement Syndrome resulted in collective Democrat amnesia on the topic of voting machine vulnerabilities, Wyden and 14 Senate Democrats introduced the “Protecting American Votes and Elections Act of 2019” (the PAVE Act) “to protect American elections from foreign interference by mandating hand-marked paper ballots and setting new cybersecurity standards for all federal elections.”
“I have been pushing hard for hand-marked paper ballots and risk-limiting audits as key defenses against the hackers,” said Wyden in 2019, citing the National Academies of Science and its proposed protocols to ensure the accuracy of the results of electronic voting machines: hand counting a percentage of paper ballots in randomly selected voting precincts.
It is not misinformation or disinformation, nor is it a crime, for me to echo Democrats’ long-held view that the election machines are vulnerable to manipulation and require mitigation of those vulnerabilities.
As Wyden said in 2019, “I don’t think this has anything to do with Democrats or Republicans. I believe [failing to act to secure elections] is an out-and-out scandal … that does a disservice to our country and particularly the sacred right to make sure that all Americans can vote and have their vote counted.”
Restoring the trust and confidence every American ought to be able to have in our elections — including the electronic voting systems — requires proactive leadership.
It shouldn’t be a trigger for demanding that I be prosecuted for suggesting a reasonable and heretofore Democratic proposal for addressing the very real concerns about voting machines.
