Before Michigan’s Aug. 4 primary, I wrote that Trump’s threat to derail Michigan elections needed to be taken seriously.

Fortunately, the primary went operated smoothly, but that doesn’t mean the threat has disappeared. Just because we didn’t see troops storming voting sites and carting away ballot boxes, or election monitors wreaking havoc the same way they did during the 2020 presidential election in Detroit, doesn’t mean the threat was a hoax. There is plenty of evidence that the threat was – and is ‒ real. You might recall how Trump doubled down on his insistence that Michigan didn’t treat him fairly:

“Take a look at Michigan. Take a look at what they did with respect to counties. Every county — 78%, 72%, 76%, 59% — the whole thing, one after another, after another. And then you get to Detroit, and it’s like more votes than people. Dead people voting all over the place,” said Trump. “They’re rigged. You can press ‘Trump,’ and the vote goes to Biden.”

It just means that those posing the threat didn’t succeed this time.

For one thing, Michigan has fortified its election system with substantial safeguards. The state uses paper ballots, signature verification for absentee ballots, testing of voting equipment, post-election audits and a highly decentralized administration system. Attorney General Dana Nessel, Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey and Lansing City Clerk Chris Swope all released statements in the face of Trump’s threats making clear their determination to conduct a free and fair election. All of that defense matters.

But it’s only a good defense if the line holds through the end of the game, and that verdict doesn’t arrive until Nov. 3.

A practice run … and a second attempt

In the meantime, we need to consider the strong possibility that the less than successful disruptive efforts carried out in August were just a practice run for the Big Show.

From Democracy Docket:

“Weeks before Michigan voters headed to the polls in a closely watched primary, the Trump administration and prominent election deniers pounced on the key battleground state.

“They quickly revived years-old, debunked conspiracy theories and began spreading false claims of fraudulent voter registrations, Democrats scheming to steal votes, and supposedly widespread Election Day irregularities in recent races.

“And all these lies targeted cities and municipalities in the Great Lakes State that are majority-Black or Democratic strongholds.

“It wasn’t a coincidence. Michigan’s U.S. Senate race ‒ which pits progressive Abdul El-Sayed (D) against Trump-backed former U.S. congressman and election denier Mike Rogers (R) ‒ is poised to be among the most important contests in November’s midterm election. And it’s one of many that will determine who controls Congress.”

You’re likely familiar with the saying, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again’? From all indications, that is exactly the plan being launched against Michigan by election deniers as we speak. The intensity of the reaction against the success of El-Sayed’s remarkable campaign in the primary (and not just among Republicans) has ramped up the disinformation machine to linebacker proportions.

Michigan isn’t just fending off unsupported rhetoric from folks who don’t want El-Sayed to win; that would be relatively easy to manage. Instead, Michigan is battling the combined and coordinated efforts of a verifiable ecosystem of national organizations, Michigan-based activists, elected Republican officials, litigation, federal election scrutiny and social-media distribution that has the potential to destabilize the legitimacy of the November election, especially if the results are close.

The most important thing to be aware of is that the activity is becoming institutionalized. Election-denial activity is no longer confined primarily to grassroots activists and social-media personalities like it was in 2020. In 2026, the threat is coming from four different directions.

The Trump administration and federal agencies

From The White House:

“On March 31, 2026, President Trump issued Executive Order 14399, ‘Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections.’ The order directed the federal government to create state citizenship lists, involved the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration in voter-eligibility verification, and directed federal agencies to take enforcement actions concerning alleged violations of federal election law.”

The Republican National Committee and Michigan Republican Party

The Republican National Committee describes its Protect the Vote program as a nationwide election-integrity operation for the 2026 midterms and 2028 presidential election.

The RNC says its legal team is involved in more than 130 election-integrity lawsuits across more than 30 states, involving voter ID, noncitizen voting, mail ballots and voter-roll maintenance.

It also solicits lawyers and law students for election-integrity operations and explicitly asks volunteers whether they have experience with election-integrity operations or recounts.

The Republican National Lawyers Association, similarly, is recruiting lawyers and law students for “critical election integrity operations” for the 2026 election season.

On June 23, 2026, the RNC and Michigan Republican Party filed another lawsuit against Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson concerning regulations governing election challengers and poll watchers.

The plaintiffs argue that Michigan improperly restricts the ability of political parties to appoint challengers and observe election procedures.

Michigan-based election-integrity organizations and activists

The national Election Integrity Network, founded by Republican election denier and activist Cleta Mitchell, lists Michigan Fair Elections as its Michigan organization.

EIN describes itself as a national election-integrity organization and has produced “Model Election Laws Handbook,” designed to translate its election-integrity principles into state legislation.

Its website lists the following policies as being its primary focus for advocacy:

Citizenship verification
Voter ID
Stricter absentee voting
Rigorous voter-roll maintenance
Replacing voting technology;
Pre-certification audits
Greater citizen standing to enforce election laws

Social-media personalities and alternative media organizations

MFEI announced in September 2025 that it was providing technical assistance to a major investigation of Detroit’s 2020 election records. The so-called “investigation” employed the services of some rather questionable (that’s being charitable) individuals and organizations:

Patty McMurray of the far-right website The Gateway Pundit, known for specializing in conspiracy theories and hoaxes.
Phani Mantravadi , a rightwing activist based in Livingston County who is CEO and co-founder of Check My Vote. Mantravadi has made a name for himself in Michigan’s election-integrity/election-denial network, largely because of his role in developing voter-data tools and pursuing legal and political challenges involving Michigan’s voter rolls and election administration.
Yehuda Miller, a New Jersey-based rightwing activist who became particularly interested in Michigan’s 2020 election and began filing public-records requests concerning alleged irregularities.

One of his early Michigan interests involved the GBI Strategies/Empower Michigan voter-registration controversy in Muskegon, the very same controversy that Trump recently tried to use as leverage to cast early doubt ahead of Michigan’s August primaries.

The material was subsequently publicized by The Gateway Pundit as supposed evidence of voter registration fraud.

MFEI claimed it was providing expertise concerning voter-file analysis and election auditing. By July 2026, The Gateway Pundit reported that its so-called investigators had examined more than 155,000 absentee envelopes and alleged that 26,901 Detroit absentee ballots lacked the required accompanying envelopes.

That charge didn’t stick, same as the Muskegon controversy and other spurious charges and accusations failed to stick. But they will be back with a whole lot more, and they will keep ramping up that intensity that will multiply by the week and by the day until Nov. 3.

Which is exactly why we need to do anything and everything between now and that critical date; voting, registering to vote, volunteering, engaging with friends and neighbors and even strangers, donating time and/or money.

They won’t sleep, and they won’t stop. Neither can we.

Free Press contributing columnist Keith A. Owens is a local writer and co-founder of Detroit Stories Quarterly and the We Are Speaking Substack newsletter and podcast. Submit a letter to the editor atfreep.com/letters, and we may publish it online and in print.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Election deniers are building for November. Michigan must be ready | Opinion

Reporting by Keith A. Owens, Contributing columnist / Detroit Free Press

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