Pro-Trump activists say they are coordinating with the White House on a 17-page draft executive order that claims China interfered in the 2020 presidential election.
The document uses that claim as the foundation to declare a national emergency, which activists argue would unlock extraordinary presidential authority over how elections are conducted across the United States.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly previewed plans to mandate voter ID requirements and ban mail-in ballots ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Advocates behind the draft executive order expect the document will factor into Trump’s promised executive order on election policy.
The White House declined to elaborate on the president’s specific plans.
Peter Ticktin, a Florida attorney and advocate for the draft order, acknowledged the constitutional tension surrounding the proposal. “Under the Constitution, it’s the legislatures and states that really control how a state conducts its elections, and the president doesn’t have any power to do that,” Ticktin said.
Ticktin attended the New York Military Academy with Trump and previously served on a legal team that filed an unsuccessful 2022 lawsuit accusing Democrats of conspiring to damage Trump with allegations that his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.
Ticktin argued that foreign interference changes the legal equation. “But here we have a situation where the president is aware that there are foreign interests that are interfering in our election processes,” he said.
“That causes a national emergency where the president has to be able to deal with it.”
Ticktin contended that such an emergency declaration would empower the president to ban mail ballots and voting machines, which he characterized as vectors of potential foreign interference, The Washington Post reported.
A 2021 intelligence review concluded that China considered efforts to influence the 2020 election but ultimately did not follow through on those efforts.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is currently leading a review of election security that officials said focuses on foreign influence operations.
Ticktin said he has had “certain coordination” with White House officials but declined to name specific individuals, citing safety concerns.
A White House official confirmed that staff regularly communicates with outside advocates who wish to share policy ideas with the president, while cautioning that speculation about upcoming presidential actions remains just that.
Ticktin also represents Tina Peters, a former Colorado county clerk imprisoned on state charges stemming from unauthorized access to voting equipment.
Trump announced he pardoned Peters in December, though the presidential pardon did not release her from her nine-year state prison sentence, as the president holds no authority over state-level criminal convictions.
On Feb. 13, Trump posted on social media: “I have searched the depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated or vetted on this subject, and will be presenting an irrefutable one in the very near future.”
He added the same day: “I will be presenting them shortly, in the form of an Executive Order.”
Trump is simultaneously pressing Congress to pass the Save America Act, legislation that would require proof of citizenship for voter registration and photo identification to cast a ballot. The measure passed the House but faces resistance in the Senate, where Republican leaders have declined Trump’s demand to alter chamber rules to advance the bill.
“President Trump is committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections, and that includes totally accurate and up-to-date voter rolls free of errors and unlawfully registered non-citizen voters,” said White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, according to the Post.
Jackson added that the president has urged Congress to pass legislation establishing uniform photo ID requirements for voting, prohibiting no-excuse mail-in voting, and ending ballot harvesting.
Trump has stated that if the Save America Act fails, he will act unilaterally to impose the changes before the midterms.
