It is no exaggeration to now say, early in the 2026 mid-term election season, that elections in our country could become a thing of the past.
We all know war is a horrible thing involving violence, destruction, and death. The people leading the current war on Iran, the Trump administration, Pete Hegseth, the “War” Secretary, the billionaires, and all the lawmakers backing them have shown that they could very well be planning to use this war as a distraction from a plan to end free elections in this country.
We have only to look at history to see that U.S. imperialism has long employed all kinds of methods to thwart democracy by ending free elections in countries around the world. The list of elected lawmakers being overthrown by the United States is a long one indeed.
The U.S. backed the murder of freely-elected Salvador Allende in Chile when Nixon was president. It was the U.S.-backed overthrow of the democratically elected government of Iran in 1953 that began a series of events leading up to the disaster facing Iran today. The U.S. ended democracy and free elections there in 1953, replacing the government with the dictatorial and murderous regime led by the Shah Reza Pahlevi.
What could make us think that a U.S. government bent on the destruction of elections overseas might have respect for the process of voting here at home? The Iranian people suffer because we ended free elections in their country, and today Americans suffer because so much of the money needed here at home goes to support the undemocratic war on Iran.
Trump has shown he is not averse to using any excuse to crush democracy, overseas or here in the U.S. What better excuse to curtail or cancel elections in the United States than to declare a national emergency because of an ongoing war or some other fake security threat? That would be unconstitutional, you might say, but what has that meant to Trump thus far in his attacks on democracy?
We have only to look at the endless list of voter suppression maneuvers his administration has already carried out to see a steady progression toward wiping out free elections.
There is the gerrymandering, lawmakers picking their voters rather than voters picking their lawmakers, cutting millions off the voter rolls, the extreme voter ID laws, ending vote by mail, and many other schemes that decrease voter turnout. A “national emergency” caused by a widening war could be an excuse to cancel elections altogether. Trump has already said that because he was allegedly “cheated” out of a second term five years ago, he is entitled to take over again at the end of this second term, with no election needed.
We should know by now that this is more than the musings of a madman. We should know by now that when he says he is entitled to cancel the next election, he means he wants to do exactly that.
People’s World was the first newspaper to report on schemes in the GOP-run Pennsylvania legislature when Trump ran for a second time to undermine elections. Those schemes developed into attempts by the GOP all over the country to replace the legitimate slates of presidential electors with ones hand-picked by Republican legislators. They ended up sending those fake electors along with violent armed mobs, to attempt a coup in the nation’s Capital and prevent the peaceful transfer of power on Jan, 6, 2021.
As we warned back then about what they were doing in Pennsylvania, People’s World is warning again today and reporting on the warnings from lawmakers and others that the groundwork is being laid to possibly eliminate elections entirely. If not this year, then in 2028, using “war” or “national emergency” as an excuse.
Our role is to give voice to the voiceless in our society. Taking away free elections will hurt everyone, taking away all the voices. No one in the media is doing more to alert people about the dangers of the elimination of the right to vote than People’s World.
We don’t have corporate sponsors or billionaires giving us money. To do the job of defending free elections and democracy, we need your help. Make this fight your fight by contributing here. Make this fight your fight by taking an ad in the People’s World May Day ad booklet.
Make the U.S. a country where free elections will never come to an end!
Sincerely,
John Wojcik
Editor-in-Chief of People’s World
We hope you appreciated this article. At People’s World, we believe news and information should be free and accessible to all, but we need your help. Our journalism is free of corporate influence and paywalls because we are totally reader-supported. Only you, our readers and supporters, make this possible. If you enjoy reading People’s World and the stories we bring you, please support our work by donating or becoming a monthly sustainer today. Thank you!
CONTRIBUTOR
