Judge orders Trump administration to stop threatening election officials with criminal charges

Key Points:

• A federal judge issued an order blocking the Trump administration from threatening or intimidating election officials regarding ballot processing ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections, prohibiting actions that coerce officials to halt ballot processing based on alleged voter ineligibility.
• U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson highlighted that high-ranking DOJ and DHS officials engaged in a campaign to intimidate state and local election workers, with the order extending through Nov. 16, nearly two weeks after Election Day.
• The order follows the administration's efforts to require states like California and Washington to separate ballots suspected to be cast by noncitizens, efforts that have been challenged and rejected by federal appeals courts.
• The DOJ had sent letters to almost all California counties demanding cooperation in identifying and segregating ballots from alleged noncitizen voters, requesting sensitive personal information and threatening investigations for noncompliance.
• Federal appeals courts recently denied the Trump administration's attempts to force California election officials to segregate or block thousands of ballots based on claims of noncitizen voter registrations, citing concerns over disenfranchisement and election interference.