Since January, Trump has launched a broad offensive to assert power over regulatory agencies that were created by Congress to operate without direct control from the White House.

That assault has included an effort to assert control over the Federal Elections Commission ( #FEC ), potentially making it easier for Trump to tilt elections in the GOP’s favor.

Charged with administering and enforcing the federal campaign finance laws and investigating campaign finance violations, the FEC is key to upholding the integrity of federal campaigns, reducing political corruption and providing transparency about who is spending money on federal elections.

Trump last month moved to fire Ellen Weintraub, a Democratic member of the commission, without cause, something no other president has ever done.
Weintraub hasn’t filed a lawsuit challenging her dismissal, but former FEC officials believe the attempt is likely illegal.

Whether through a lawsuit over Weintraub’s dismissal or challenges to other firings, courts
— specifically the Supreme Court
— could ultimately give Trump the ability to fire FEC commissioners.

Daniel Weiner, a director at the Brennan Center for Justice, told Democracy Docket that would
“significantly” increase the possibility of the FEC being weaponized against Trump’s political opponents, as his administration would have increased influence to weigh in on its regulatory and enforcement decisions.

“What we’ve seen with this administration is that they really do seem to want to go after their enemies,” Weiner said.

“No other president in recent history has been so overt about weaponizing the government against his political opponents.”

Additionally, Trump may sign an executive order that dissolves the leadership of the U.S. Postal Service and incorporates the service into the Department of Commerce, according to the Washington Post.

Doing so would give Trump and his political appointees direct control over the agency that handles mail ballots.

Experts told Democracy Docket that not only could this shake voter confidence in mail voting, but the administration could make voting by mail more difficult by changing postage requirements for mail ballots or influencing how states mail ballots to voters.

By gutting election security programs in the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency ( #CISA ),
the Trump administration may be exposing future elections to external threats, experts warn.

The agency has been crucial to helping state and local election officials secure elections from foreign and domestic cyber attacks and handle disinformation and influence campaigns that seek to erode Americans’ faith in democratic institutions.

Such election interference operations have grown both in scope and sophistication over the past decade,
-- especially with the rise of artificial intelligence.

The Trump administration placed employees that worked on CISA’s election programs on administrative leave
and stripped federal funding for systems that alert thousands of state and local governments to cybersecurity and election threats.

State and local election officials have told Democracy Docket they fear that dismantling these programs will leave future elections less secure.

Additionally, the administration disbanded an FBI special unit tasked with confronting foreign threats to elections,
creating what a former FBI counterintelligence head called “a free for all for foreign intel services seeking influence.”

Trump may be able to meddle with the nuts and bolts of election systems by controlling the Election Assistance Commission ( #EAC ).

With a similar leadership structure as the FEC,
the EAC helps state and local officials improve how elections are conducted.

It distributes grants to improve election infrastructure, certifies voting equipment and analyzes state-by-state data to determine best practices in election administration.

The EAC has long been targeted by Republicans,
and if Trump gains the ability to fire its board members at will, he could cripple the agency or influence how it certifies
— or decertifies
— voting system hardware and software.

The Trump administration has already attempted to influence the EAC’s work by including $55 million in election security grants administered by the agency
in its massive indefinite federal funding freeze earlier this year.

The administration rescinded the freeze after it set off a wave of legal challenges.