NYT Editorial Board: "The sanctity of the 2026 elections is indeed under threat. And the reason is Mr. Trump."

[highplainsdem]

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com

U.S. elections remain both commonplace and miraculous, the editorial board writes. “This country should be proud that it can feel so routine for a citizen to drop a ballot in the mailbox or walk down the street to cast a vote. In 2026, we should guard that tradition.”

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2026-01-31T16:50:06.162452Z

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/31/opinion/trump-midterms-election-security.html

The Midterm Elections Need You. Here’s How to Help.
Jan. 31, 2026, 7:00 a.m. ET

-snip-

He has repeatedly demonstrated his willingness to interfere with elections to benefit himself and his party. He has broken the law to do so and broken longstanding bipartisan traditions. Since he entered politics a decade ago, he has suggested that election outcomes are fair only if his side wins. In 2020, after he lost the presidential election, he attempted to direct a sprawling conspiracy to overturn the result. As it was failing (thanks to the honesty of election administrators from both parties), he encouraged protesters to march to Congress when it was meeting to certify his defeat — and later celebrated their violent attack.

Since he returned to the presidency last year, he has if anything shown a willingness to go further. He has pushed for extreme gerrymandering of congressional districts, outside the normal 10-year cycle, to help Republicans hold the House even if most voters want them out. His Justice Department is building an unprecedented database of voter information that experts fear the administration may use to cast unfair doubt on voters’ eligibility. He signed a legally dubious executive order that could force states to reject some mail-in ballots. He recently told The Times that he regretted not sending the National Guard to seize voting machines after the 2020 presidential election.

The threat took on a new urgency this week, when F.B.I. agents searched an election center in Atlanta related to Mr. Trump’s baseless accusations of fraud in 2020. Chillingly, his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, accompanied agents on the search. As an article in The Times explained, the search “could be used to justify a forced takeover of the elections operation” in Georgia’s most populous county, which skews heavily Democratic. It is a reminder of Mr. Trump’s willingness to use the tools of state power — prosecutors, national security officials, National Guard members and F.B.I. and immigration agents — in the service of his political interests.

To look at this pattern and conclude that the 2026 midterm elections are safe is to leave American democracy exposed. In a divided country where many elections are close and congressional control could come down to a handful of races, a local disruption affecting turnout or vote counting could have national consequences. If you are somebody who has previously dismissed talk of election interference as overwrought, we understand where you are coming from. Yet we urge you not to assume that the past will repeat itself.

-snip-

They recommend these actions:

Work the polls.
Watch the polls.
Don’t spread dubious information.

And they recommend donating to organizations working to protect election officials and safeguard elections, and recommend three they say are nonpartisan:

The Election Official Legal Defense Network

The Campaign Legal Center

The Carter Center

[choie]

1. The NY Times begins to wake up.

very, very slowly.