Project 2025 Poses a Serious Threat to Our Democracy
By Sophie Roppe
The Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 was designed to break down barriers to political participation for people of color by prohibiting any election practice that denied a citizen’s right to vote on account of their race or ethnicity. While considered one of the most effective pieces of civil rights legislation ever enacted, the fight to ensure voting rights for all communities did not end with its enactment.
In 2013, after nearly 50 years of its enforcement, the Supreme Court gutted the heart of the VRA in Shelby County v. Holder. By eliminating the requirement that jurisdictions with a history of discrimination must preclear voting changes with the Department of Justice or a federal court, the decision did away with the detection and prevention of voting discrimination before it occurred and emboldened state and local officials in their efforts to restrict the right to vote. In the 11 years since Shelby County, states — including many with a history of voting discrimination — have added 114 restrictive voting laws. As we prepare to honor the 60th anniversary of the VRA in 2025, voting discrimination remains a threat.
The election of President Donald Trump — an election denier when it suits him — is poised to build on this dangerous momentum with his embrace of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a 900+ page wish-list of extremist policies. Although President Trump initially denied his connection with Project 2025, his recent actions suggest a full endorsement, including its agenda to erode our democracy in many different forms. These include criminalizing the voting process, allowing the proliferation of online election disinformation, providing the federal government access to state voter rolls, and weaponizing the federal government against election officials.
Criminalizing the Voting Process
Project 2025 seeks institutional changes within the Department of Justice (DOJ) to criminalize the voting process. Specifically, it would shift responsibility for prosecuting election-related offenses from DOJ’s Civil Rights Division to the Criminal Division, claiming that without this shift, voter registration fraud and unlawful ballot correction will never be “appropriately investigated and prosecuted.”
This change in federal enforcement authority is hugely problematic, with dire consequences for the political power of communities of color. Elevating the issue of exceedingly rare “voter fraud” and transferring enforcement authority away from voting rights lawyers experienced in combatting voting discrimination will dilute the ability of the DOJ to defend voting rights. The move would undoubtedly lead to sham criminal investigations and unwarranted prosecutions of voters and the people who make elections possible. Threats of prosecution related to voting will intimidate voters of color and discourage Americans from participating in the political process.
Project 2025’s proposal builds upon the recent flurry of state laws that criminalize the actions of voters, those assisting voters, and election officials.
In 2023, for example, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 4B into law, which expanded the ability of prosecutors to prosecute election crimes. This occurred just after Florida’s newly created Office of Election Crimes and Security charged 20 individuals who had felony convictions with voter fraud, although many understood they were eligible to vote. These prosecutions intimidate eligible voters and disproportionately impact Black Floridians. This expansion of power is also a waste of resources, given the lack of actual fraud in U.S. elections.
States have recently also criminalized the actions of individuals and groups who assist voters. In 2024, the Alabama legislature passed Senate Bill 1, which provided that anyone who engages in routine voter assistance, like assistance with absentee ballots, may face criminal felony penalties of up to 20 years in prison. This includes non-partisan voting rights groups and disability organizations as well as their volunteers. This provision especially harms people of color, older voters, voters with disabilities, and low-literacy voters. A federal district court blocked the portion of Senate Bill 1 that limited assistance with absentee ballots to voters with disabilities, finding it unduly burdened the rights of Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act.
States have also tried to directly intimidate members of organizations who assist voters. Leading up to the 2024 election, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton harassed and intimidated members of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), who advocated for increasing turnout of Latino voters, pursuant to its Get Out the Vote initiative. Attorney General Paxton’s office raided the homes of several LULAC members in what it called an “election integrity probe.” In one instance, officers forced Lidia Martinez, an 87-year-old activist, to stand outside her home in a nightgown as they searched her home.
States have also attempted to criminalize the actions of election officials. In 2021, Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 1 into law in Texas, which made it a state-jail felony for local election officials to proactively distribute applications for mail-in ballots, even when provided to voters who automatically qualify to vote by mail or groups helping get out the vote.
Allowing the Proliferation of Online Misinformation and Disinformation Relating to Elections
Project 2025 would not only allow, but encourage, the proliferation of online misinformation and disinformation relating to elections.
Project 2025 seeks to eviscerate the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which manages risks for election infrastructure. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created CISA to lead the national effort to understand, manage, and reduce risks for critical infrastructure, including election infrastructure. Since 2018, the agency has helped election officials in navigating election security threats and protecting critical infrastructure.
However, just as the need to protect against election disinformation grows stronger, Project 2025 recommends that CISA limit its role in supporting election security and end “counter-mis/disinformation efforts,” claiming it violates the First Amendment. Without CISA’s expertise, many election offices would be deprived of the tools to be effective frontline national security figures or address any security threats that arise during an election.
Project 2025 also seeks to end social media companies’ efforts to limit election falsehoods. Project 2025 calls for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to go after social media companies that restrict or limit the visibility of user content that reflects “core political viewpoints,” which likely would include election denials and related conspiracy theories. Project 2025 also wants the FCC to “eliminate” immunities courts have read into Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act so that civil lawsuits can be brought against social media companies if they remove election disinformation.
Providing the Federal Government Access to State Voter Rolls
Project 2025 also seeks to cast doubt on the legitimacy of election results by establishing certain pre-conditions to eligibility for DHS grant funding. To receive DHS funding, potential state and local recipients would need to commit to sharing information that would allow access to state departments of motor vehicles and voter registration databases. This kind of pre-condition interferes with state maintenance of voter lists and would allow the administration access to voter rolls to deploy aggressive voter purges that disenfranchise voters.
Weaponizing Federal Government Against Election Officials
Project 2025 lays out the roadmap for weaponizing the federal government against public servants, including election officials. Specifically, it would allow a President Trump to weaponize the DOJ for political purposes, eviscerating the long-held principle of DOJ independence from the White House.
Project 2025 advocates for the Trump administration to directly pressure DOJ prosecutors or investigators to go after any group of persons, such as election officials, who disagree with the administration. This, coupled with the push for Schedule F — the replacement of career civil servants with political appointees — would allow Trump to remove DOJ employees who refuse to target certain election officials, thus destroying the system of checks and balances and giving the president almost complete control over the federal bureaucracy.
The push to weaponize the DOJ against election officials comes at a perilous time when election workers increasingly live in fear of simply doing their jobs. A recent survey by the Brennan Center for Justice found that 38 percent of local election officials across the country report experiencing “threats, harassment or abuse.” Additionally, 54 percent of local election officials are concerned about the safety of their colleagues. Instead of adding to their fears, we should be doing all we can to protect these public servants who are on the front line of our democracy.
Looking Forward
Donald Trump’s implementation of Project 2025 threatens to return our country to a pre-VRA era, where voters of color are prevented from full participation in our political process through devious and harmful tactics. Most importantly, it would deprive the DOJ of one if its primary authorities exercised over decades to protect the right to vote. Instead of following Project 2025, the federal government should be adopting measures to ensure a thriving and fair democracy — one in which its citizens can vote for leaders who represent them and their interests without obstacles or fear. To build a nation as good as its ideals, we must combat the attacks by Project 2025 on our democracy and ensure all of our voices are heard.
Sophie Roppe is a 2024 legal intern at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.