Daniel Wolfram
This decision has made Democrats and election experts concerned about what the administration will do during the midterm election.
With the 2026 midterm election being less than a month away, concerns are mounting from Democrats and experts that the Trump administration will do everything in its power to disrupt the election.
First, the Department of Justice is planning to deploy 1,000 of its own partisan election monitors in battleground states. The DOJ tested this approach out during the primary elections, where even some Republicans called the deployed election monitors ‘a bit aggressive‘ and ‘irregular.’
And now, the Trump administration is joining Belarus and Russia in an unprecedented election move.
No more OSCE
The Trump administration declined to invite international observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to observe the upcoming midterm election. This decision to exclude the OSCE has only been made by Russia and Belarus, two dictatorial regimes.
It marks the first federal election without the regional security team since 2002. Observers watched the 2018 midterms during Trump’s first term and returned for the 2024 election, which they called ‘well-run,’ according to MS NOW, with candidates campaigning ‘freely across the country.’
Former OSCE Ambassador Dan Baer heavily criticized the decision. According to him, democratic countries should have nothing to hide.
‘Refusing election observers is usually something that countries in a position of weakness do, when they know that they have corrupt or unfair elections,’ Baer said. ‘It’s very strange for the United States, which has been historically a standard-setter in free and fair elections, to refuse observers.’
Growing political backlash
Human Rights Watch warned that the decision ‘fuels fears of serious human rights concerns around the upcoming elections.’
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told MS NOW the move ‘risks undermining public trust in America’s safe and secure election system.’
‘The Trump administration’s decision not to invite international observers to the United States is deeply antithetical to the spirit of freedom, democracy and transparency that defines our elections,’ Shaheen said, adding that the U.S. should hold ‘itself to the same standards that we would expect of any other democracy.’
Subbing the OSCE for its own election monitors
A State Department spokesperson defended the decision, stating the OSCE ‘should focus its limited resources on elections where it can have the greatest impact.’
Monitors hold no enforcement power, and individual states control polling access. The OSCE is usually only there to write reports and inform the rest of the world how the election has proceeded.
Instead, the Trump administration is banking on the biggest DOJ observer effort in American history. Just before the midterm election, the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as the new Attorney General for the DOJ.
Todd Blanche is best known for being Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer.
