A federal district judge in California issued a temporary restraining order on Friday blocking the Justice Department from threatening or coercing election workers to halt ballot processing. The order also prohibits the department from demanding that local officials segregate or reject ballots the federal government suspects may have been cast illegally by noncitizens.
The restraining order followed the Justice Department’s distribution of letters to election officials across all 50 states threatening prosecution and incarceration for those who failed to preserve ballot records. Judge Trina Thompson wrote that the department’s “intimidation, threats, and attempts at coercion” force election workers to choose between complying with unlawful federal demands or fulfilling their duties while facing criminal investigation risk.
The ruling represents another challenge to the administration’s push to assert control over state-level elections. The lawsuit was brought by labor unions and civil rights organizations. It follows a decision by a federal appeals court on Friday that rejected the Justice Department’s request for California to set aside disputed ballots, and a Wednesday ruling from a three-judge appellate panel that denied a similar request.
The administration has asserted that California sent ballots to approximately 20,000 individuals who may not be U.S. citizens and has sought to have those ballots excluded from counting pending citizenship verification. California officials contend the list is unreliable and likely includes numerous citizens. University of California researchers found that more than 40 percent of the ballots flagged by the administration contain names not appearing on the state’s voter rolls, and that thousands of voters were flagged as ineligible despite names corresponding to U.S. citizens.
A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately comment on the ruling but stated in a separate statement that “Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting” and that enforcing the law is “the Department’s job.”
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Article summary produced by Claude AI