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21 Oct 2026
45m

Election experts share concerns about the midterms

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Fresh Air

The integrity of the upcoming midterm elections faces scrutiny as experts analyze potential threats ranging from federal interference to misinformation. Richard Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project, explains that attempts to purge voter rolls based on unverified data lack legal standing and evidence of widespread non-citizen voting. He further notes that federal efforts to seize ballots or voting machines would violate established electoral chain-of-custody protocols. Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt, drawing on his experience overseeing the 2020 election, confirms that while isolated instances of voter fraud occur, they are statistically insignificant and never influence final outcomes. The conversation also highlights the corrosive impact of unprecedented campaign spending by wealthy donors, which threatens to translate economic power into outsized political influence, challenging the fundamental fairness of the democratic process.

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