The Electoral College has long been controversial in its role in determining elections, but this is not necessarily a new or isolated idea. US elections throughout history have often put emphasis on the importance of different voting systems in response to election results. However, there has never been a presidential candidate with enough potential to threaten both the popular vote, electoral vote, and voting entirely—until now. Donald Trump’s influence on local and state governments to do his dirty work has raised serious issues regarding the upcoming 2024 election & subsequent certification.

Leveraging Electoral Votes

In 1824, Andrew Jackson became the first president to lose an election despite gaining the popular vote and most electoral votes. Electoral votes were split between the four candidates: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay, and William H. Crawford and none had the majority necessary to win. To deal with this hiccup, the decision was sent to the House of Representatives, of which candidate Henry Clay was the Speaker of the House. While the House deliberated, Adams negotiated enough states’ electoral votes to reach the majority to win the election. The emphasis placed on electoral votes over popular votes jaded the growing non-property-owning white male voters, who didn’t feel represented by wealthy property-owning white men like Adams. Although Jackson may have lost in 1824, he made sure to exploit his loss to the fullest until his election in 1828, campaigning as a “man of the people” and victim of corruption.

Election Interference

When Trump lost the 2020 election, he resorted to election fraud claims to cast doubt on the efficacy of the Electoral College. Citing a litany of nonexistent voter fraud cases as proof, Trump has left lasting damage to how voters view voting and vote counting.

Like Andrew Jackson’s strategy of playing the long (but still technically legal) game, Donald Trump has chosen a similar, but illegal, route. Since 2020, Trump has consistently worked to underhandedly influence the 2024 election. Taking the Jackson approach, Trump has spared no effort in politically astroturfing 2024 election with claims of Democratic intervention. Through this, he aims to further weaken Republican voters’ confidence in the electoral process, allowing him to easily sneak in and manipulate the results in the chaos of it all. Delegating tasks to his  cronies implanted in swing states, Trump’s fellow Republicans work to interfere in vote counting  by any means necessary, including various attempts to alter voting laws and criteria to vote. An instance of this coordinated effort was exposed recently when three Georgia election officials by the names of Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares, and Janelle King voted to give county boards the power to overrule election officials’ ballot decisions, which could create a loophole to deny election results. Accordingly, the Georgia courts reversed this illegal move, but the source of the threat continues to propagate not just in Georgia, but also in other key swing states where the same sentiment is held. Trump brain rot spans a large area of the U.S. and while there may be countermeasures in place to safeguard the voting rights and hinder bad faith actors, the issues will continue to persist until they are properly uprooted.

Sources

Andrew Garber and Wendy Weiser (August 14, 2024): Donald Trump’s Latest Plan to Mess With Georgia’s Election Is Not Some Clever Loophole

Cate Cadell (January 6th, 2024): Trump skips Illinois loyalty oath promising not to overthrow government

Andy Kroll, ProPublica, and Nick Surgery (August 10th, 2024): Inside Project 2025’s Secret Training Videos