Black leaders brace for Trump election interference and urge voters not to be intimidated

As Trump casts doubt on the midterms and his administration challenges election rules, Black leaders are urging voters to know their rights and make their voices heard.

On the eve of Election Day, Black leaders are bracing for the possibility of election interference by the Trump administration and are urging Black voters not to be intimidated from casting their vote at polling stations.

“I foresee him interfering in anything that doesn’t give him and his party what they want, but their attempted interference does not guarantee their success,” voting rights advocate and former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams told theGrio. “Our responsibility is to keep our eye on the prize to make certain that we turn out in numbers that are so large they can’t be denied.”

National polls and history indicate that the Republican Party could face major losses in Tuesday’s midterm elections, delivering a blow to President Donald Trump‘s agenda in his final two years as U.S. president. Understanding this political reality, Trump has already tried to interfere with the election or sow seeds of doubt about its legitimacy.

Trump sows seeds of doubt in U.S. elections

When asked whether he would accept the results of the election if Democrats defeated Republicans to win a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate, Trump told reporters, “I will if they’re honest elections.”

The president’s remarks send a chilling effect to election experts and voting rights advocates, given his previous false conspiracy claims about the 2020 presidential election being rigged after his defeat to Joe Biden. More than 60 lawsuits were subsequently filed in several battleground states by the Trump campaign and other groups, challenging the results; however, nearly all were either dismissed on the merits or dropped.

“I expect we’ll see the same result that we saw in 2020,” former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told theGrio. “Donald Trump thinks there’s only fraud in any election where his side doesn’t win.”

The former Obama administration official continued, “If his side wins, it doesn’t matter. Even Martians could come in, and he would say, ‘Oh, that’s fair.’ But if his side loses, then there’s fraud.”

Since returning to office, the Trump administration has made unprecedented threats to U.S. elections, from seizing ballots from the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia, earlier this year, to a failed attempt to execute an executive order from Trump calling for the U.S. Postal Service to take over the distribution and receipt of mail-in ballots. Most recently, the Trump Department of Justice filed lawsuits already seeking to interfere in the Alaska and California elections. Both challenges were dismissed by federal judges.

“Donald Trump is gonna say that there is fraud, whether it’s in Alaska, Georgia, Michigan, wherever,” said Holder, who anticipates “substantial Democratic victories.” However, the former U.S. Justice Department chief said he also expects U.S. courts to thwart any attempt by Trump and Republicans to overturn the election.

“The courts [will say] that what Republicans, in general, Trump in particular, are saying about fraud is simply not true,” said Holder, who serves as chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which is combating the GOP’s nationwide efforts to gerrymander election maps.

Kristen Clarke, general counsel at the NAACP, told theGrio that the Trump administration has waged a “lawless campaign of voter intimidation” and has abused its power to “try and hijack the midterm election,” but added, “It’s not working.”

“This administration’s refusal to accept the results of the election is not surprising — it is also evidence that they do not care about the right to vote and bedrock principles that lie at the heart of our democracy,” said Clarke, the former assistant attorney general for civil rights during the Biden administration.

Kenneth Cockrel, the former mayor of Detroit and city councilman, dismissed attempts to cast doubt on federal elections.

“At the end of the day, elections are not run by the federal government; they’re run ultimately by local city clerks and local departments of elections, and people who are poll workers that are your next-door neighbors,” said Cockrel, who is a part of the nonpartisan pro-democracy group, Keep Our Republic.

He told the Grio, “They’re the people who are the parents of the kids that your kids play in Little League with. You see them at your grocery stores. You see them at the local bank. You see them at the post office.”

Cockrel added, “This idea that somehow these people are trying to curb your ability to vote or to hamper your ability to vote in the community that they themselves live in is a fantasy.”

Black voters must know their rights

As Black voters head to the polls on Tuesday, election experts and leaders are urging them not to be intimidated.

Former U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts told theGrio that Black voters must know their rights. For example, some polling sites may have official election monitors who can challenge how ballots are handled. However, she warned it’s on “very limited bases.”

Roberts, who is also a part of Keep Our Republic, explained, “They can ask whether they reside in the district where the people are voting. They can ask them if they’re registered to vote. They can ask them if they’re 18. They can ask if they’re citizens. It’s a very limited list, and it has to go through the officials who are there on site.”

However, Roberts said a poll watcher doesn’t have the right to ask any of those questions directly to a voter. Additionally, she explained that no one has the right to take a photograph of a voter inside a polling station. The former federal judge also urged Black voters to look up organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which has compiled resources through a hotline for voters who may encounter trouble at the polls.

However, Judge Roberts said she remains concerned that the Trump administration will try to seize ballots before they are certified. She told theGrio, “There isn’t any law that authorizes them to do that, but we’ve seen that happen in Georgia, and it would really disrupt an election any place where that happened.”

Roberts explained, “It would disrupt that chain of custody, for example, that is so important to protect the integrity of the votes.”

Any attempts to seize ballots or to not certify an election would be a major affront to Black voters, who are expected to have high turnout in the midterm elections based on early voting numbers alone. However, Cockrel, the former Detroit mayor and councilman, stressed, “If you are a legal citizen of the United States and are registered to vote, there’s really nothing that can be done to stop you from voting.”

Cockrel told theGrio, “Do not be dissuaded. Just go to your election officials, present your information, and vote. It’s your right. You have the ability to do that, and no one can prevent you from doing that.”

Kristen Clarke of the NAACP said she is heartened by Black voters pushing back against attempts to hamper their ability to vote.

“In every corner of the country, we see Black voters and all Americans turning out to register their voice at the ballot box. HBCU students are courageously displaying the power of collective action,” she told theGrio. “The truth is, this administration is afraid of Black voters exercising their power and their voice.”

The NAACP official said the civil rights group and its partners will “continue to fight inside and outside the courts to beat back this administration’s continued attacks on our democracy.” She added, “We will have a fair and honest election. And voters across the country should continue to make sure that their voices are heard in full force this election season.”