HOWARD FINEMAN: A last-minute Obama decision may empower federal authorities to run the “election infrastructure” in the name of national security.

At the time ― only about a month ago ― Obama administration officials thought the move was a swell idea; good for national security and a subtle way to twist the knife in the president-elect on the topic of Russian election hacking.

But it may have been the riskiest decision of the Obama years, opening a legal door to Donald Trump forces looking to control future access to the ballot box in the name of national security, and to a new president who decries millions of (phantom) “fraudulent” votes he claims were illegally cast against him.

Obligatory: