As it becomes clear Trump will lose his congressional majority, we must be vigilant about election interference

Ryan R. Crosswell was a prosecutor at the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section. He was one of the prosecutors who resigned over the forced dismissal of the Eric Adams bribery case, which made national headlines.

The midterm elections are less than two weeks away, and, for the first time, it’s unclear if our federal government will protect the sanctity of our ballots or imperil them.

So first, a spoiler alert for those who avoid politics: This will be a good year for Democrats. The GOP’s fortunes rise and fall with the man around whom it has built its entire image, and Donald Trump’s drain-circling approval numbers have Republicans in a full, deserved panic.

The American people have been reminded of the incompetence that caused them to vote Trump out in 2020. Trump’s 19th-century understanding of trade policy led him to impose tariffs that he thought would bring back 20th-century manufacturing jobs, but instead only worsened our 21st-century affordability crisis. His unconstitutional war in Iran broke a promise of no more “forever wars” and has us wincing every time we fill our gas tanks. And his Big Beautiful Bill has led to a big beautiful spike in healthcare costs.

All of that would be enough without his naked apathy for anything that doesn’t promote or enrich himself. He treated the Kennedy Center’s facade like a vanity plate, opened a cryptocurrency firm that appears to allow the purchase of influence without the headache of laundering, and fixated on a ballroom like a monarch entertaining nobility at court. Least of his concerns are you and your family.

But when Trump loses, he lacks the integrity to admit it. So instead, he alleges election fraud even before the election takes place — allegations that he withdraws if he wins and maintains if he loses.

It’s frustrating to have to dignify Trump’s election accusations with the metrics of their fraudulence, but as a reminder: Trump and his allies filed more than 60 federal lawsuits over the 2020 election and lost virtually all of them; although it’s his burden of proof to demonstrate fraud and not ours to prove a negative, he’s never offered any hard evidence of a stolen election; and with regard to his 2020 election loss, the explanation as to how the election was stolen kept changing, from conspiracy theories about voting machines to allegations of rogue poll workers.

When Trump loses, he lacks the integrity to admit it.

Each additional, inconsistent explanation by Trump and his allies on how the election was “rigged” further proved that it wasn’t.

And even in 2024, he predicted the election would be stolen, until he won, at which point, of course, he accepted the results as legitimate.

My former section at the Department Justice, the Public Integrity Section, oversaw and protected election integrity nationwide. Trump gutted our section when he retook office. This will be the first federal election in decades without Public Integrity Section oversight. I am deeply concerned about how Trump’s loyalists within DOJ leadership may try to interfere with these midterms.

National journalists have contacted me multiple times in the last month asking for comment on disturbing stories coming out of Justice related to the elections.

Hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

Be vigilant. Don’t believe unsupported election fraud allegations. In Pennsylvania, every vote cast is verified with voter registration records and backed up by a verifiable paper trail. Voting systems are disconnected from internet-facing networks. And results are vouchsafed with two separate audits.

Know that it’s a federal offense for Department of Justice officials to deploy armed federal agents to a polling place. As a prosecutor, if I had ordered armed FBI agents to a polling place, I could have been charged with a felony.

And consider if a candidate for federal or state office has a history of election denialism when you cast your vote.

Numerous Pennsylvania legislators running for reelection signed a letter asking members of Pennsylvania’s U.S. congressional delegation to reject Pennsylvania’s electoral votes.

Others signed a legal brief supporting the corrupt attorney general of Texas’ attempt to block Pennsylvania’s electoral votes.

The conservative U.S. Supreme Court immediately threw out the lawsuit for lack of standing, which is legalese for, “Mind your own damn business, Ken Paxton.”

Those weren’t attempts to steal from President-elect Joe Biden; those were attempts to steal from Pennsylvania’s voters.

For Pennsylvanians just trying to pay their mortgage or medical bills, election integrity may seem too abstract of a concern. But if certain elected officials don’t even have the backbone to stand up for the sanctity of your vote, what else won’t they stand for?

Every citizen who values democracy must have a line in the sand that cannot be crossed. Free and fair elections lie at the foundation of our democracy, and we owe it to those who have fought and died for it to protect the will of the voters.