Despite repeated federal court rejections and the absence of any substantial voter fraud, the Trump administration is increasing its intrusions into the way states manage elections.

Its ultimate purpose remains vague — and potentially concerning.

Over the past year, President Donald Trump has issued two executive orders that, if implemented, would require states to give their registration rolls to the federal government, implement potentially restrictive voter identification laws and place limits on how the Postal Service handles millions of mail-in ballots.

It’s part of Trump’s unprecedented effort to give his administration substantial power over U.S. elections, though the Constitution explicitly gives it to the states.

Justice Department demands fall into two categories: voter registration rolls from every state and election records from the largest Georgia, Michigan and Arizona counties — states where Trump has alleged, without proof, that voter fraud caused his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.

More recently, the department claimed the authority, without citing specific reasons, to examine state voter registration rolls for signs of voter discrimination.

Earlier, it said it was seeking evidence of illegal voting by noncitizens who might therefore be candidates for deportation; it said it would send the data to the Department of Homeland Security. To make their point, authorities recently detained for deportation a Mexican-born, former small-town Kansas mayor who voted illegally for years.

Besides current data, the administration may be trying to create doubts about past elections — a staple of Trump’s unsupported allegations for years — to justify future actions. The effort is being managed by former North Carolina Rep. Dan Bishop, one of many House Republicans who rejected the 2020 results.

Some administration critics believe Trump’s various demands — and the department’s efforts to implement them — are designed to lay the basis for legal challenges if Republicans fare poorly in November’s midterm elections — or if control of Congress hinges on several close races.

But so far, an array of federal courts — including Trump-appointed judges — have rebuffed its efforts. And recently a senior Justice Department attorney raised questions about the reliability of the state voter data it is seeking.