The institutional buffers that once shielded American democracy from internal collapse are thinning. During the chaos following the 2020 presidential race, the U.S. election integrity guardrails barely held, but they held. Today, the personnel and protocols that provided that stability have been systematically hollowed out.

A deep-dive examination reveals a stark transformation within the federal government. At least 75 seasoned career professionals—the very experts tasked with ensuring the safety and accuracy of our ballots—have been purged, fired, or sidelined. In their wake, a small cadre of political loyalists, some of whom spent years attempting to overturn the 2020 results, have been granted unprecedented authority.

As the midterm elections loom, the risk is no longer just about political rhetoric; it is about who controls the machinery of the vote. When the people tasked with validating the election are the same ones who espoused debunked theories about its failure, the “seal of the federal government” can become a tool for disinformation rather than a badge of truth.

The Great Purge: From Expertise to Ideology

In 2020, the line was held by people like then-Attorney General William Barr and DHS cybersecurity experts. Despite intense pressure from the White House, these officials refused to validate fraudulent claims, confirming that the election had not been hacked. This resistance, even among Trump’s own appointees, prevented a total systemic failure leading up to the violent uprising at the Capitol.

Fast forward to the current administration, and that resistance has been neutralized. Less than 18 months into this second term, the architecture of election security has been redesigned. ProPublica’s comprehensive investigation highlights a pattern of removing non-partisan specialists and installing “associates” of the election-denial movement.

The Gutting of CISA and Law Enforcement

CISA, the vanguard of digital election defense, was one of the first casualties. Employees dedicated to countering disinformation were placed on leave, and essential work—such as assessing the physical and cyber vulnerabilities of local election offices—was frozen. Eventually, the agency’s entire election-specialist workforce was eliminated.

The erosion extends into the FBI and DOJ. Director Kash Patel dismantled the FBI’s public corruption team and the Foreign Influence Task Force, the latter of which was critical for stopping adversarial nations from manipulating U.S. politics. Meanwhile, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division saw nearly all 30 of its career voting-rights lawyers vanish, replaced by conservative attorneys with histories of challenging the 2020 vote.

What happens to public trust when the referees of the democratic process are chosen from the ranks of the players they are meant to monitor?

The Rise of ‘Team America’

By the summer of 2025, a secretive circle of appointees known as “Team America” began consolidating power at DHS headquarters. Their goal: to implement a March 2025 executive order designed to grant the federal government sweeping control over voting mechanisms.

Central to this effort is David Harvilicz, a DHS assistant secretary who previously co-founded an AI firm with a prominent architect of Michigan’s election-hacking theories. Working under him is Heather Honey, a figure linked to the very false claims about Pennsylvania’s 2020 ballot counts that were cited on January 6th.

This group has strong ties to the Election Integrity Network, led by Cleta Mitchell. According to sources, these federal officials have provided private briefings to Mitchell’s organization, effectively blurring the line between government operations and partisan activism.

Weaponizing Voter Rolls and FBI Raids

The administration is now leveraging powerful surveillance tools to target noncitizen voters, often with dubious results. While the DOJ sues states for confidential voter data, DHS has pushed the use of the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) tool. However, evidence shows the SAVE tool frequently misidentifies legal citizens as noncitizens.

Even more alarming is the use of the FBI to seize physical evidence. Attorney Kurt Olsen, a director of election security who was previously sanctioned for baseless claims in Arizona, orchestrated a January raid on an election center in Fulton County, Georgia.

When the head of the FBI’s Atlanta office, Paul Brown, refused to authorize the raid due to a lack of evidence, he was reportedly forced into retirement. His replacement immediately carried out the seizure based on Olsen’s reports. This indicates a shift where dissent within the FBI no longer protects the integrity of the process, but instead invites professional retaliation.

Could this blueprint for “taking over” the midterms—as the president described it—be applied to future national cycles?

Disclaimer: This article discusses legal investigations and federal agency protocols. It is provided for informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.