The Democrats’ leading practitioner of weaponizing the government to attack political opponents, Marc Elias, recently called for my prosecution because I wrote on X that President Trump should exercise existing federal authority to make sure that electronic voting machines are not hacked or compromised in the midterm elections.
I argued on X that those who are demanding that President Trump declare a national emergency regarding the voting machines are asking him to do something he’s already done. On May 15, 2019, he invoked the National Emergencies Act of 1976 as the basis for issuing Executive Order 13873. That order authorizes the commerce secretary, after consultation with other federal officials, to restrict certain information and communications technology and services (ICTS) transactions involving foreign adversaries, including China, when they pose specified national security risks. It aimed to eliminate or mitigate vulnerabilities in various categories of technology and U.S. critical infrastructure, which includes elections.
Since then, the U.S. Department of Commerce developed and promulgated regulations implementing the order, which became effective in February 2024.
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick has authority under ICTS regulations to require mitigation of threats to critical infrastructure. Elections are “critical infrastructure” thanks to President Obama and his secretary of Homeland Security in 2017. Because all electronic voting systems used in America’s elections are made in whole or in part in China, the ICTS regulations most certainly apply to voting machines.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, in an Aug. 24 letter to the White House, specifically noted the urgent need to mitigate threats to America’s elections infrastructure. That action, along with statements from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and President Trump’s primetime speech on election security in July 2026, provide all the necessary conditions for Commerce Secretary Lutnick to take action.
