Commentary: Big Tent Ideas

MARLY HORNIK: President Trump Must Start Prosecuting Election Crimes

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“America is back,” was Trump’s inaugural promise, and the President has delivered once again by reinstating the prosecution of election crimes. In the recent Executive Order signed by President Trump on March 25, 2025, titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections,” the President asked Attorney General Pamela Bondi to “align the Department of Justice’s litigation positions,” with prosecuting election fraud.

This is truly the unhinged left’s swansong. The DOJ prosecution guidelines read, “Election fraud is conduct intended to corrupt:

• The process by which voters are registered.
• The process by which ballots are obtained, marked, or tabulated, or
• The process by which election results are canvassed and certified.

“Any activity intended to interfere corruptly with any of the principles indicated below may be actionable as a federal crime:

• All qualified citizens are eligible to vote.
• All qualified voters have the right to have their votes counted fairly and honestly.
• Invalid ballots dilute the worth of valid ballots, and therefore will not be counted.”

For five destructive years this election fraud prosecution how-to for US Attorneys has been treated like a work of fiction. Americans who did not blindly trust elections administered with downright filthy voter rolls and egregious fraud caught on camera were defamed, like Justice Alito, imprisoned and lawfared into near-oblivion, like True The Vote, disbarred, like John Eastman, or jailed, like many peaceful J6 protesters. Now that we can say “election fraud” out loud again, the DOJ should be very, very busy.

The EO directs the Attorney General to enter into agreements with the chief election official in each state, in order to “provide the Department of Justice with detailed information on all suspected violations of State and Federal election laws discovered by State officials.” Yet historical precedent shows that state election officials are themselves, not infrequently, the subject of investigation and prosecution for election misconduct.

When voters and candidates are prosecuted for election crimes, typically a particular race was intended to be swayed by the conduct. The goal is to either destroy ballots for the targeted candidate, or stuff ballots to boost the preferred candidate. The impact is most often local. In the 1800’s the latter technique was accomplished by “cooping,” or kidnapping people off the street and keeping them hostage with a generous supply of both alcohol and ballots to fill out.

When election officials are prosecuted for crimes, it is often for certification of a false tally. The official can have either acted deliberately or they can have failed to prevent corruption of an election outcome. Because the result is the same—false representation—the court sees the crime identically. An officer of elections who fails to protect the ballot boxes and tally sheets, as decided by SCOTUS in 1888, and upheld in 1941 and 1974, commits criminal fraud.

Working with the states to identify and prosecute election fraud is a great start. However, the Attorney General of the United States should also take a hard look at prosecuting election officials for certifying false tallies. Going after ballot box stuffers is important, but prosecuting rogue state officials who allow massive fraud is the fastest path back to constitutional governance. Cheating at the ballot box is the only way forces that hate America can win, and any official who allows it commits a heinous election crime.

Marly Hornik is the co-founder and CEO of United Sovereign Americans and New York Citizens Audit. She has successfully coordinated more than 10,000 volunteers to audit elections in 21 states, advocate for legally valid elections to over 700 local representative bodies across America, and file federal lawsuits in nine states demanding that the voters, votes, and counts be lawful and accurate.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.