Democratic-led states are racing to safeguard November’s midterm elections against potential interference from the Trump administration and its allies, passing new laws that restrict the presence of law enforcement at polling places or seek to thwart the federal government’s efforts to obtain sensitive election material.

State Laws

Five states – California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, and Washington state — have recently enacted legislation to shield their elections from federal actions. Sponsors say they are responding to President Donald Trump’s continued rhetoric about fraud in voting and the administration’s increasingly aggressive moves to reshape how voting is conducted.

“It’s infuriating that the Trump administration believes they can ignore the Constitution of the United States and try to take over our elections,” said Maryland state Sen. Cynthia Kagan, a Democrat who co-sponsored a new law aimed at maintaining the state’s deadline for counting mail-in ballots that are received after Election Day.

Federal Response

Responding to the recent moves by Democratic states, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement that 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.”

Some of these state laws could set up legal clashes with the federal government. Court disputes have already erupted between the Trump administration and states such as California and Connecticut over statutes that seek to prohibit ICE officers from wearing masks while operating within the states’ borders.

Original reporting: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.