PRESS RELEASE

Thursday, July 16, 2026

Law Forward’s Jeff Mandell Reacts to Presidential Address

The president asserts new claims about Chinese interference in the 2020 election, notwithstanding the U.S. intelligence community’s post-election analysis conclusion: “We have no indications that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 US elections, including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation, or reporting results.”

The president says he is worried about foreign interference, yet he has gutted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the primary federal agency responsible for coordinating cybersecurity election protections with states and localities. The Trump administration has reduced CISA’s small staff by 1/3 and forced out nearly all of the career officials with experience tracking foreign election interference.

The president says he is worried about the security of voting machines, but he just fired every commissioner on the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission, which creates standards for the security of voting systems and certifies them under a federally run program.

With only months to go until our next national election, the president’s drive to undermine the vote is accelerating. But these efforts continue to face strong resistance in the courts. Federal and state courts alike consistently recognize–and uphold–the U.S. Constitution’s fundamental delegation to states of authority to run elections.

Our advice to voters: register to vote and make a plan to vote, whether in person, via drop box, or by mail. Wisconsinites know how to run free and fair elections. If you would like to help, consider becoming a poll worker.

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