A federal judge on Friday temporarily barred the from threatening election workers with criminal prosecution over ballots tied to suspected noncitizens.
U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson found that the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security likely violated the Voting Rights Act’s prohibition against voter intimidation by threatening election workers with prosecution for processing ballots from voters the administration claims are ineligible, just days before the midterm elections.
“One of the hallmarks of a fair election is the freedom to exercise the right to vote free from threat, fear, or intimidation,” Thompson, a Biden-appointed judge, wrote in the eight-page order.
The ruling comes as the Trump administration has sought voter registration information from states ahead of the Nov. 3 elections, arguing that its efforts are aimed at preventing noncitizen voting and protecting election integrity.
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The temporary restraining order prohibits federal officials from threatening, intimidating or coercing state and local election workers into halting ballot processing solely because the administration alleges certain registered voters are ineligible.
The order also bars the administration from demanding that election officials remove registered voters from voter rolls, refuse to issue them ballots or segregate or decline to count their ballots based solely on those allegations.
The lawsuit was brought by labor unions and civil rights organizations, including the Service Employees International Union and the NAACP.
“Because the public has a paramount interest in ensuring that election officials and workers are able to carry out their work in accordance with federal law and election procedure, and the official day of the Elections is only a couple of days away, the balance of the equities and public interest weigh in Plaintiffs’ favor,” Thompson wrote.
“Ballots have already been issued,” Thompson also noted. “Americans have already begun voting.”
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Thompson also ordered the administration to notify state and local governments that received the disputed letters that the demands and threats of prosecution contained in them have been blocked.
Earlier Friday, a federal appeals court separately ruled against the Trump administration’s emergency request to require California to set aside mail-in ballots associated with roughly 20,000 voters federal officials identified as likely noncitizens while their citizenship status was verified.
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Justice Department’s request to set aside the disputed mail-in ballots while officials review
