Judge orders Trump administration to stop threatening US election officials
The order comes after election officials received letters demanding they set aside the ballots of possible non-citizen voters.
Judge orders Trump administration to stop threatening US election officials
A federal judge has directed the federal government to cease threatening local and state election officials with criminal charges over their role in handling election ballots.
The California judge said the Department of Justice (DoJ) must stop insisting that local and state election officials set aside or fail to process certain ballots that the Trump administration says may have come from non-citizens.
The decision was issued just days before the midterm elections, which will decide which political party controls the US Congress for the final two years of Donald Trump's presidency.
Trump attacked the ruling on Saturday, posting, "Why would they reject fixing Election Fraud?"
Earlier this month in California, the justice department sent letters to the secretary of state and the Los Angeles County Registrar demanding that they set aside the ballots of 20,000 registered voters whom the Trump administration "believe" are "likely" non-citizens, according to court documents.
Roughly a week later, armed officials from the Department of Homeland Security delivered letters to county officials and employees throughout California, warning of criminal charges if they did not sequester those ballots.
The groups said they could not follow those demands because they are required to comply with election procedures under state and federal law. A judge then rejected the demand, writing that it would "wreak havoc" in the election.
Around the same time, the justice department reportedly launched a criminal investigation into county election officials and issued federal grand jury subpoenas.
Civil rights groups and unions representing election workers filed a lawsuit, accusing the justice department of interfering with their duty to run the election. Judge Trina Thompson ordered the administration to stop its actions.
"Although Defendants claim that their actions are designed to halt unlawful voting by noncitizens, their actions are likely to have the effect of interfering with election administration and disenfranchising lawful voters," Judge Thompson wrote.
According to Thompson's order, the Trump administration sent a similar letter to Washington state about alleged non-citizen voters and demanded that the secretary of state there stop processing the ballots.
The actions are part of a yearslong campaign by Trump and his administration against alleged voter fraud that they say is widespread, despite research showing it is extremely rare.
Before the midterm elections on 3 November, the president has questioned the security of the vote, alleging "rampant" cheating in postal voting and by non-citizens. He also offered a $1m (£750,000) reward to people who report cases of voter fraud in the US that lead to a conviction.
Studies, however, indicate that actual cases are extremely rare. BBC Verify reported that the Heritage Foundation's database identified 24 cases of non-citizens being convicted for voting between 2005 and 2025.
In his post on Saturday, Trump said criticised recent rulings against his administration related to allegations of possible election fraud and vowed to keep fighting for "Election Integrity".