JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The executive power of the presidency has grown exponentially under President Trump, often with the blessing of federal courts. But when it comes to elections, not so much. Here to break down why and how the courts have protected states' rights to manage elections, we have NPR's voting correspondent Ashley Lopez and senior political correspondent Tamara Keith. Hi to both of you.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: Hi, Juana.
ASHLEY LOPEZ, BYLINE: Hey there.
SUMMERS: Ashley, I want to start with you. Give us an overview. What's the tension here about who runs elections?
LOPEZ: Well, we have decentralized elections in this country, which basically means that states and local governments run and administer their own elections. States also write their own laws around things like absentee voting. And there really isn't much federal input. And to any extent there is, it would require an act of Congress. And as you can imagine, this is a structure President Trump isn't the biggest fan of. He has sought to extend executive power in pretty much every direction. And we know he has been particularly obsessed with voting laws since he lost the 2020 election. So he's facing some roadblocks as he tries to make some changes.
SUMMERS: And what specifically have courts rejected from President Trump and his allies?
LOPEZ: I mean, well, there's been a lot lately. Notably, this week, the Supreme Court sided against Republicans who wanted to limit grace periods for mail-in ballots. A Mississippi law that was upheld allows election officials to count mail-in ballots that arrive up to five days after election day but are postmarked before election day. Republicans have been trying to get these, like, grace periods struck down in various states, but have failed. There are also a slew of justice department lawsuits against states that won't hand sensitive voter data over to the Trump administration. Courts have struck those down 10 times in a row now.
SUMMERS: That is a lot of times.
LOPEZ: And federal courts also recently permanently blocked one of Trump's executive orders related to voting. He has signed a couple so far in this term, and courts have stopped them from going into effect each time.
SUMMERS: OK, Tam, over to you. Why is this break with the president on election issues so notable?
KEITH: Well, it's notable because with only a handful of exceptions, this was a very good Supreme Court term for President Trump and his agenda. The conservative court majority gave him even more executive power this term, saying that presidents can fire commissioners from government agencies, agencies that were designed by Congress to be independent. As Trump himself put it, quote, "this decision gives tremendous additional power back to the presidency, where it belongs."
On immigration, the court upheld birthright citizenship. That was a loss, but it reaffirmed broad powers of the president and his administration to severely limit legal immigration. The court also helped Republicans in their effort to draw more safe districts for their party in Congress. So Trump came away from this term saying the Republican Party was treated very fairly by the United States Supreme Court.
SUMMERS: OK, so we've all covered Trump the candidate, Trump the president. We know that this is a person who likes to celebrate his wins. How has he reacted to the election case losses?
KEITH: Oh, well, he immediately renewed his push for Congress to pass what he's calling the Save America Act, saying it is more important than ever to do so, quote, "in light of the tremendous loss in the Supreme Court." Though, to be clear, he has had a near single-minded focus on trying to force this through for months now.
LOPEZ: Yeah. I feel like, as we're saying, the bill has changed a lot in the past several months. Trump has been mischaracterizing what's in it, but I think the biggest change that is in it is that it creates all these new document requirements, whether it's for registering to vote or casting a ballot, like voter ID, which is already in place in many states. It also requires states to submit large swaths of sensitive voter data to the Trump administration, among others.
KEITH: Trump actually refused to sign a bipartisan housing affordability bill in an effort to use that as leverage to force Congress to pass the Save America Act. This housing bill includes provisions that he called for in his State of the Union address and was going to be a big bipartisan win that Republicans could run on in the midterms. But Trump called it a yawn compared to the voting legislation. And the problem is that that Save Act doesn't have the votes it needs to pass, including from Republicans, and yet Trump keeps demanding that they get it done.
SUMMERS: Ashley, what can you tell us about how voters feel about the election changes that President Trump is pushing?
LOPEZ: You know, polling has shown that parts of what's in the Save America Act are quite popular. Photo ID, for example, is pretty popular. That's why it's already law in many states. But I've seen those same polls show that voters are more mixed or at least don't have as much of a strong support for a massive overhaul of elections, which is what the Trump administration is hoping for.
SUMMERS: And what about voting experts? What do they have to say about Trump's efforts?
LOPEZ: Well, they say this is aimed at undermining trust in U.S. elections. A lot of what's in the Save Act is already law, and what isn't could create a big mess that could potentially disenfranchise some voters. And the closer we get to the midterm elections, this could be a great concern. Changing voting systems and preparing voters for changes just takes a long time.
SUMMERS: OK, so let's just assume for a minute, that the courts and Congress, they don't give Trump what he wants, but the president continues to push for election changes ahead of the midterms. What effect could that have?
LOPEZ: I mean, well, it continues to create a sense of chaos around the upcoming election. His gerrymandering efforts, which were scaffolded by the Supreme Court, have already changed quite a bit for voters ahead of a contentious election. And importantly, this is a stressor for election administrators who are already under a lot of pressure.
KEITH: So this is an election, a midterm, where Republicans would be expected to suffer losses just based on historical precedent and as well as the current approval rating among voters for the president and his party, which - not in a good place.
SUMMERS: No.
KEITH: The president is vocally and, let's just be clear, falsely arguing that unless these election law changes are made, the election won't be fair. He is sowing seeds of doubt ahead of the midterms in a way that increases uncertainty and at least among his very loyal supporters creates doubt about the outcome of the election in November.
SUMMERS: NPR senior political correspondent Tamara Keith and voting correspondent Ashley Lopez, thanks to both of you.
KEITH: You're welcome.
LOPEZ: Yeah, thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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