Pro-Trump Draft EO Proposes Emergency Over 2020 Election Interference

Pro-Trump activists have circulated a 17-page draft executive order among White House officials that would declare a national emergency based on claims of Chinese interference in the 2020 presidential election, potentially granting the president sweeping authority over election administration nationwide.

The proposal, first reported by The Washington Post, seeks to justify federal intervention by citing foreign meddling in U.S. voting processes. Proponents argue this creates an emergency requiring presidential action to secure future elections. The draft, if enacted, would ban mail-in ballots, prohibit electronic voting machines, mandate strict voter identification requirements and hand-counted paper ballots. It draws on statutes like the National Emergencies Act and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to assert the president's authority.

Florida attorney Peter Ticktin, a former classmate of President Donald Trump at the New York Military Academy and a key advocate for the draft, described it as a response to perceived threats. "Under the Constitution, it's the legislatures and states that really control how a state conducts its elections, and the president doesn't...