Federal judge bars Justice Department from threatening election officials over noncitizen-voting demands

A federal judge in San Francisco on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from threatening to prosecute state and local election officials who refuse its demands over alleged noncitizen voting, Reuters reported.

U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson issued a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit brought by election workers' unions and other groups. Raw Story identified the plaintiffs as the unions SEIU and AFSCME and the civil rights organizations LULAC and the NAACP.

What the order covers

According to Reuters and Raw Story, the order bars the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security from:

• threatening prosecution of officials who decline to comply or who count ballots as state and federal law require;
• demanding that officials remove voters from the rolls, refuse them ballots or reject their ballots based on the administration's list of alleged noncitizens;
• demanding that ballots be segregated or left uncounted.

Thompson found the plaintiffs likely to succeed on a claim under Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act, Raw Story reported. Reuters said she cited an election only days away in finding that the public interest favored the plaintiffs.

The government must notify recipients of its letters that the demands are blocked and tell the court about any pending warrants, subpoenas or demands for election materials, according to Raw Story.

Background

The plaintiffs said armed DHS officials delivered letters to California counties on Oct. 23 and that the Justice Department issued grand jury subpoenas, Raw Story reported. The administration has sought to have California hold back about 20,000 ballots. The Justice Department had no immediate comment, Reuters said.

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