Executive orders to limit mail-in ballots, lawsuits over voter registration data, threats to funding and more have poured out of the White House leading up to the 2026 general election.
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But despite the “noise,” Colorado election overseers and advocates say they are confident that this fall’s exercise in democracy won’t feature any particular hurdles for voters, or subversion of their intent. Ballots will still be mailed, voter rolls won’t face purging and workers will tally and honor the will of voters, they say — though officials in Colorado still expect a pressure campaign in the election’s fallout, especially if results don’t go President Donald Trump’s way.
“Really, it truly has been a case where we were expecting a lot of (nonsense around the election) and it has lived down to those expectations so far,” said Matt Crane, the Republican head of the Colorado County Clerks Association, using an expletive to describe the state of things.
“We knew there would be a lot of noise from the election denier community, up to and including the president, and this network he has allowed to grow and wreak havoc and undermine confidence in our elections.”
Among the attempted changes by the Trump administration: an August 2025 attempt to procure “all records” from Colorado relating to the 2024 election and whatever was available from the 2020 election; a December 2025 lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice against Colorado demanding detailed voter registration information; and a March 31 executive order that sought to restrict mail-in ballot access and create a federal voter list
The White House has also dismantled or defunded federal programs and boards that help with cybersecurity and the administration of state and local elections. The Trump administration has threatened to withhold federal funding or even arrest state election officials if they don’t remove noncitizens from voter rolls.
Those efforts have largely languished or have been outright shut down by the courts. Still, election officials see them as building on Trump’s longstanding, and baseless, claims that elections were rigged against him, even as he won the presidency twice. Numerous federal officials have glommed onto those claims, specifically rejecting the reality that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
Despite regular, mandated audits of results and repeated legal challenges, voting is safe, secure and accurate.
“The big picture is that the Constitution is clear: States run elections, not Donald Trump,” Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, said. “He does not have the authority to change how elections are run by executive order or by threat. The bigger picture is that Trump is laying the groundwork to reject the 2026 results if they don’t go his way. That’s what this is all fundamentally about.”
Colorado, like other states, has taken steps where it can to help fill some gaps left by the federal government pulling back its support, Crane and Griswold said. That includes bringing in physical and cybersecurity assistance for county clerks, mailing ballots earlier to minimize problems from delays, and creating a provision to allow the governor to declare an emergency in case of interference.
The efforts add up to confidence in Colorado’s upcoming general election, officials said. Most voters should see little, if any, difference in how they cast their ballots and how they are tallied. Election Day is Nov. 3 and ballots should start going out to registered voters on Oct. 9.
“I am confident about the ‘26 elections,” Griswold said. “But we have seen an increase in hostility, to say the least. I think something that is really striking is that, at this point, most of our contingency planning, some of our top concerns are about federal interference as opposed to foreign interference.”
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Colorado Common Cause, a government watchdog and advocacy nonprofit, has also started hosting trainings on non-partisan election protections, Executive Director Aly Belknap said. The organization has formed a coalition with 70 other groups, including faith leaders, business executives, unions and other voting rights advocates. The training includes how to serve as poll monitors, report suspicious activity, including from federal agents, and work with lawyers to ensure a fair, accessible election.
State and federal law, as well as the U.S. Constitution, already establish strong protections for voting, Belknap said, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be further attempts to exert federal pressure on how elections are run and who can participate. In particular, she has concerns about indirect pressure, such as a massive push of immigration enforcement in swing districts like Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, that could suppress the vote.
“Broadly, we’re in an emergency for what the underpinnings of democracy is in this country,” Belknap said.
Her concerns also don’t end once Election Day passes. She, like Griswold and Crane, worries about post-election challenges to the results, especially if there are close races.
Belknap also points to other existential challenges to American self-governance, such as the gutting of the Voting Rights Act and the rush toward partisan gerrymandering that seeks to cement one-party control in different states. That last point has put her group in a particular bind, as it supports a national ban on the practice, but worries a ban on the practice in Colorado essentially sets different rules for red and blue states. Such a ban on partisan redistricting in Colorado has been proposed for this year’s ballot.
“The biggest emergency we need to be watching is that this is part of an overall project,” Belknap said of federal attempts to control election administration. “This really is an emergency for the Republic.”
Crane, the executive director of the county clerk’s association, likewise has existential concerns about what the affect the Trump administration and the universe of social media conspiracy theorists will have on trust in U.S. elections. The loss of trust caused by baseless claims of election fraud may be generational, he said.
He encouraged people with questions to contact their local clerks, and volunteer to serve as election judges — just don’t take viral social media posts and outlandish claims alleging fraud at face value.
“People have fought and died for this right,” Crane said. “They have marched and been beaten. To have so many dishonor the sacrifice people have made with their lies and misinformation, it is disgusting.”
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