US judge blocks Justice Dept from threatening election officials before midterms
- A federal judge in California issued a temporary restraining order against the Justice Department and Homeland Security.
- The order bars them from threatening or prosecuting election workers who refuse to halt ballot processing.
- It comes days before the November 3 midterm elections and follows a separate ruling on 20,000 California ballots.
A federal judge in California has temporarily stopped the US Justice Department from using the threat of criminal charges to pressure state and local election officials over how they handle ballots, ahead of next Tuesday's midterm elections.
Judge Trina Thompson of the Northern District of California issued the temporary restraining order on Friday. It runs until November 16 and was sought by labour union and civil rights groups suing the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
The order bars officials from intimidating or coercing election staff into stopping the count of any registered voter's ballot simply because the government claims that voter is not eligible. It also stops them from warning election workers of prosecution if they do not fall in line.
Thompson said the order was needed because the election is so close, and because the groups behind the suit had shown they were likely to win on the substance of their claims. She called the threats and intimidation of election workers unlawful and arbitrary.
What the ruling covers
The judge went further than the immediate dispute. Her order also stops the defendants from demanding that particular registered voters be struck off voter rolls, from refusing to give ballots to specific voters, and from insisting that ballots be discarded over claims of ineligibility.
The case is one of two recent court setbacks for the administration's push to tighten voting rules. On Wednesday, another federal judge refused to set aside the ballots of more than 20,000 California voters whom the Justice Department said might not be citizens, describing the move as interference just before an election.
President Donald Trump's Republican Party is fighting to keep control of Congress in the November 3 vote. Critics have accused his administration of trying to sow doubt about the results, while Trump has spent months claiming the midterms will be marred by fraud. He has never accepted his 2020 loss to Joe Biden.
Research has consistently found that voter fraud does happen, but only in tiny numbers, and not enough to change election outcomes.
What happens next
The restraining order lapses on November 16, after the election. The lawsuit by the unions and civil rights groups will continue in court.
