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President Donald Trump on Monday escalated his rhetoric against the American electoral system, telling his former FBI deputy director and serial podcaster Dan Bongino that he wants to “nationalize” American elections in 15 “crooked” states. “These people were brought to our country to vote, and they vote illegally,” Trump said. “And it’s amazing the Republicans aren’t tougher on it. The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over, we should take over the voting in at least 15 places.’ ” I too used to think we should nationalize our elections, though not for the insane reasons Donald Trump offers. It is Trump himself who convinced me that I was wrong.

American elections are hyperdecentralized, as they are run on the state, and mostly county, level. States have ultimate responsibility for voter registration rolls, the kind of machinery used to conduct balloting, the rules for contesting elections, laws prescribing how candidates qualify to appear on the ballot, and much more. Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution provides that states, through their legislatures, get to set the times, places, and manners of conducting congressional elections, “but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.” Congress sometimes exercises that power to override state rules. For example, a federal statute requires that members of Congress are elected from single-member districts, not from larger districts where multiple members of Congress could be elected.

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Given that authority........

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