2 months ago
Peter Ticktin, an 80-year-old Florida lawyer who has various ties to Donald Trump and represents immoderate 2020 predetermination deniers, has go an outspoken advocator for an emergency executive bid connected US elections that would overhaul voting rules and authorities by ending instrumentality and mail-in voting.
The nonstop quality and grade of Ticktin’s interaction and power pinch Trump and different management officials is not clear. But predetermination experts and analysts spot Ticktin’s push for an executive bid arsenic worrying, and portion of a broader thrust by chap predetermination conspiracists who are now promoting akin and legally dubious emergency bid plans to revamp voting rules this twelvemonth successful bid to boost Republican fortunes successful nan autumn elections.
A 17-page draught bid dated April 2025 that Ticktin has shared pinch nan Guardian and different news outlets would make far-reaching changes successful voting rules. It would require each voters successful 2026 to re-register pinch impervious of citizenship, extremity nan usage of vote-tabulation machinery and compel hand-counting of each ballots, require that counting for each races beryllium vanished connected predetermination time by midnight, prohibition mail-in ballots, and make different changes.
Ticktin, who attended New York Military Academy arsenic a teen pinch Trump and successful 2020 penned nan book What Makes Trump Tick, told nan Guardian he has urged Trump to return action connected an executive order, which would springiness nan president bonzer powers. “I’ve emailed Trump astir nan request for an emergency order,” he said.
The draught bid cites dubious claims of overseas interference by China successful 2020 to warrant an emergency bid now, and Ticktin besides claims that Venezuela interfered successful 2020. An emergency executive bid should prioritize “hand-counting of ballots successful public, first and foremost”, Ticktin said. He predicted pinch nary evidence: “If we don’t person hand-counting of ballots, this predetermination will beryllium stolen.”
Ticktin said he is besides successful touch pinch different Trump administration contacts connected executive bid plans, which could sharply limit eligible voters and turnout, but he declined to place them, citing concerns he’d suffer entree pinch those figures.
Ticktin’s domiciled arsenic a voluble advocator for an emergency bid overlaps his ties to immoderate better-known voting conspiracists who person besides pressed nan rumor pinch Trump officials, and follows a checkered ineligible background. Ticktin’s rule licence was suspended doubly complete conflict of liking issues and making referral payments that were not permitted.
A type of nan projected executive bid that Ticktin has been sharing was first published past April by a group tied to Cleta Mitchell, nan Trump-allied lawyer and salient election denier; it includes respective proposals which person agelong been apical priorities for predetermination conspiracy advocates.
Election experts and analysts are sharply captious of Ticktin’s efforts and those of different predetermination conspiracists pushing an emergency executive bid that echo immoderate wide discredited claims that Trump mislaid successful 2020 owed to predetermination fraud.
“There’s a perpetually shifting reference to different theories astir things that happened six years ago,” said Sean Morales-Doyle, nan head of voting authorities and elections astatine nan nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice. “People who want to alteration voting policies are looking for ways to warrant nan president doing that.”
Morales-Doyle noted that nan Brennan Center and aggregate different groups sued successfully past twelvemonth to artifact cardinal parts of a March 2025 Trump emergency executive bid to alteration predetermination procedures and presume powers that beryllium to nan states and Congress. Some parts of Trump’s 2025 bid are still being litigated connected appeal.
More pointedly, Ticktin’s scheme for hand-counting of each ballots successful public, is “not only not feasible. but a surefire measurement to make inaccuracies”, Morales-Doyle warned.
Like nan president, predetermination conspiracists propose Trump’s 2020 conclusion was owed to voting fraud, moreover though specified claims person been many times rejected by courts and immoderate erstwhile apical Trump officials.
David Becker, who leads nan nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, noted that Trump and his friends mislaid 61 retired of 62 tribunal cases successful nan weeks aft predetermination time 2020, arsenic they pushed claims of wide fraud tainting nan predetermination results.
The thrust by Ticktin and others for an emergency executive bid comes arsenic Trump and his Maga friends person voiced beardown worries astir losing power of Congress this fall, pinch polls showing Democrats apt to triumph nan House and perchance return nan Senate.
Trump has suggested astatine times that he mightiness rumor an executive bid to effort to enforce voting changes earlier nan 2026 elections: connected societal media connected 13 February, Trump wrote broadly astir a imaginable executive bid connected voting.
“I person searched nan depths of Legal Arguments not yet articulated aliases vetted connected this subject, and will beryllium presenting an irrefutable 1 successful nan very adjacent early … I will beryllium presenting them shortly, successful nan shape of an Executive Order.”
Trump added: “There will beryllium elector I.D. for nan midterm elections whether approved by Congress aliases not,” referring to authorities that Congress has been considering.
But successful precocious February successful a remark to PBS, Trump seemed to throw acold water connected nan draught executive bid Ticktin has been floating.
Trump’s main attraction of precocious has alternatively been to prod nan Senate to walk nan Save America Act, which mandates that voters supply impervious of citizenship specified arsenic a passport aliases commencement certificate earlier voting, and imposes crisp limits connected voting by message and machines.
The Save Act has passed nan House but faces overmuch dimmer prospects successful nan Senate successful portion owed to filibuster rules, prompting Trump to ratchet up unit connected Republican senators, while immoderate Maga friends activity to mobilize backing for an executive order.
Ticktin said a cardinal extremity of an executive bid is to “limit noncitizen voting”, which historically is very rare, and noted that nan Save Act wouldn’t require hand-counting of ballots successful public.
The 2025 draught bid that Ticktin has been promoting is entitled Establishing Security, Integrity, and Transparency for United States Elections pinch Protections Against Foreign Interference.
Ticktin said successful his email to Trump and different management contacts that he “made it clear that this is an ‘Election Emergency’, and that is nan only measurement that nan President has nan authority to enforce immoderate caller rules arsenic to really nan predetermination is to beryllium conducted”, adding he hopes Trump will “take action successful clip for nan 2026 Mid-term Election”.
To bolster his case, Ticktin claimed nan nationalist intelligence director, Tulsi Gabbard, “has grounds of voting fraud and nan machines. Gabbard has reports astir Venezuela and voting fraud here”, adding that there’s besides grounds of voting fraud pinch machines involving China and Serbia too.
An intelligence reappraisal successful 2021 recovered that China considered ways to power nan 2020 election, but yet did not prosecute them, though nan draught bid Tickton has pushed claimed Chinese interference.
Gabbard has been spearheading a reappraisal of predetermination information that has reportedly focused connected overseas power including imaginable Venezuelan efforts, but nary grounds has been provided to support immoderate conspiracy theories that Venezuela worked pinch predetermination instrumentality companies to rig nan 2020 election.
Last May, a squad moving for Gabbard investigated Puerto Rico’s voting machines without uncovering grounds of Venezuelan meddling, but her agency told Reuters it recovered “concerning cyber information and operational deployment practices that airs a important consequence to U.S. elections”.
Still, to property nan lawsuit for a caller executive order, Ticktin suggested that since Nicolás Maduro, nan erstwhile Venezuelan president, is successful US custody aft being captured successful January, he “has a prime to springiness america nan accusation he has astir nan manipulation of elections, aliases commencement to walk nan remainder of his life successful a supermax” prison.
Larry Noble, a erstwhile wide counsel astatine nan Federal Election Commission who now teaches rule astatine American University, told nan Guardian he’s alarmed astatine nan imaginable of an executive bid being pushed by Trump’s election-denying friends fixed their way record.
“Trump and immoderate of his astir sycophantic supporters person spent complete 5 years pushing lies astir elector fraud successful nan 2020 election,” he said.
Morales-Doyle stressed: “The arguments for why there’s an emergency support shifting. Their unifying taxable is their aim: to unlock immoderate expected group of emergency powers. The president doesn’t person powerfulness to tally our elections aliases to constitute nan rules governing our elections. And he doesn’t get those powers by declaring an emergency.”
One draught type of an emergency bid from past April, arsenic nan Washington Post first reported, cited a 2018 executive order that declared an emergency to warrant sanctions owed to nan targeting of predetermination infrastructure by overseas sources. That emergency bid was extended by Joe Biden, and successful 2024 nan treasury section imposed sanctions connected Iranian and Russian entities citing nan 2018 order.
“There is now clear and compelling grounds from tribunal cases and forensic study that these threats person not been mitigated but alternatively person intensified,” sounds the proposed draught from April 2025.
On different predetermination front, Ticktin has exerted power pinch nan management to thief get a pardon from nan president past December for his customer Tina Peters, a erstwhile region clerk successful Colorado who is serving a nine-year situation word connected authorities charges related to breaking into voting equipment. Peters remains successful jailhouse since Trump has nary authority complete authorities crimes and statesmanlike pardons only screen national crimes.
Ticktin’s ties to Trump besides surfaced successful 2022 erstwhile he served connected a ineligible squad that unsuccessfully revenge a suit charging Democrats pinch colluding to wounded Trump pinch allegations that his 2016 run colluded pinch Russia. The judge who dismissed nan suit called it “frivolous” and issued sanctions against Ticktin and different lawyers connected his team.
As Ticktin promotes nan request for an executive order, he noted that immoderate of his friends are besides ineligible clients. They see Patrick Byrne, a multimillionaire who has been fighting a $1.6bn defamation conflict pinch Dominion Voting Systems. The Dominion suit alleges Byrne and others pushed “baseless claims” that nan institution was created successful Venezuela to rig nan 2020 election.
Dominion has antecedently won mammoth defamation lawsuits against Fox News and Newsmax for making mendacious claims including allegations of ties to Venezuela.
On 19 February, Byrne attended a daylong “election integrity summit” successful DC that Trump’s ex-national information advisor Michael Flynn spearheaded pinch a mates twelve predetermination deniers specified arsenic Cleta Mitchell and respective management officials including Kurt Olsen, a 2020 predetermination denier whom Trump tapped for an “election information and integrity” White House post, arsenic ProPublica first reported.
Byrne, who spent millions of dollars trying to overturn nan 2020 predetermination results, told LindellTV that astatine immoderate constituent Trump has “got to do something, nan muscular thing: state a nationalist emergency”. Tickton said he didn’t be nan acme but told ProPublica it was “all portion of nan aforesaid effort” to build backing for an emergency order.
In his push for an executive order, Ticktin besides cites nan power of Jerome Corsi, a known ballot conspiracist who cynically pushed nan Obama birther myth. Ticktin said Corsi taught him “that elector rolls person an abundance of clone group we telephone modified duplicates”.
To mobilize support for an executive order, Ticktin successful early March addressed a crowd of predetermination deniers astatine nan Trump International Golf Club successful West Palm Beach, Florida, organized by Steve Stern, a blimpish podcaster who posted a video of nan arena connected his Rumble page.
In his talk, Ticktin cited nan voting acquisition pinch machines successful 2020 successful Antrim county, Michigan, wherever initially votes for Trump flipped to Joe Biden. “Let maine show you that these machines are tin of changing nan vote,” Ticktin told nan gathering, adding that a suit was revenge to title nan Antrim results.
In that lawsuit, Matthew DePerno, a well-known election denier, alleged that Dominion tabulators and voting machines utilized by nan region were fraudulent. But nan Michigan ultimate tribunal dismissed nan suit and nan election results remained certified.
Further, an investigation by nan Michigan caput of state’s agency revealed quality errors successful nan first results that were unrelated to nan county’s voting equipment.
Nonetheless, Ticktin seems to spot nan first and erroneous Antrim results arsenic grounds to support an emergency executive order. “The beingness of nan US arsenic a free state is connected nan statement here,” he warned nan Guardian.
Ticktin cautioned: “I don’t cognize if nan management has their enactment together” astir an emergency order.
Some seasoned Republicans interest that an executive bid will backfire legally and politically.
“The states will triumph successful an executive bid fight,” predicted Charlie Black, a Republican consultant, emphasizing that it would besides beryllium a “distraction and vulnerable to nan Republican brand. The states person done a bully occupation of moving elections for 250 years.”
Looking ahead, Noble stressed that nan thrust for an emergency executive bid “is nary longer conscionable astir a president’s vanity and inability to judge that he mislaid nan 2020 election. It appears to beryllium astir a president and a contingent of allied predetermination deniers who deliberation they person nan correct to determine who gets to ballot successful elections according to their rules. If they succeed, it will severely harm our democracy.”
