Trump Justice Dept breaks with tradition to intervene in midterms

Key Points:

• The Justice Department under President Trump has taken an unprecedented active role in intervening in the 2022 midterm elections, including efforts to challenge mail-in ballots in California and investigations in Alaska, breaking with longstanding DOJ neutrality in election matters.
• In California, the DOJ sought to discard about 20,000 mail-in ballots from alleged noncitizens and demanded records in a related criminal probe, while California officials maintain they have safeguards against noncitizen voting and dispute DOJ authority.
• In Alaska, the DOJ pursued legal action to block certification of election results if voter confusion allegedly influenced the outcome in a Senate race, but a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, and the department has appealed.
• Critics argue the DOJ's involvement risks undermining public confidence and could be used to sow doubt about election integrity, contrasting with the department's historical focus on protecting voting rights for minorities and vulnerable populations.
• The DOJ's election interventions now appear influenced by political appointees, with reduced role for career election law experts, raising concerns about politicization of election-related law enforcement decisions.