A federal judge in California has ordered the Trump administration to stop threatening state and local election officials with criminal prosecution over their handling of ballots. The ruling also requires the Department of Justice to halt demands that officials separate or stop processing ballots the administration alleges could belong to non-citizens.
The decision comes ahead of the 3 November midterm elections, which will decide control of the US Congress during the final two years of Donald Trump's presidency. Trump criticised the ruling in a social media post on Saturday, questioning why efforts he described as addressing election fraud had been rejected.
According to court documents, the justice department wrote earlier in October to California's secretary of state and the Los Angeles County Registrar, demanding that ballots belonging to 20,000 registered voters be set aside. The administration said it believed those voters were likely to be non-citizens. About a week later, armed Department of Homeland Security officials delivered letters to county officials and employees across California, threatening criminal charges unless the ballots were separated.
Those facing the demands said they could not comply because they were required to follow election procedures established by state and federal law. A judge rejected the demand, warning of disruption to the election. Around the same period, the justice department reportedly opened a criminal investigation into county election officials and issued federal grand jury subpoenas.
Civil rights organisations and unions representing election workers subsequently brought a legal complaint accusing the department of obstructing their election duties. Judge Trina Thompson ordered the administration to stop its actions, finding that measures presented as preventing unlawful voting by non-citizens were likely to interfere with election administration and deprive lawful voters of their votes.
The administration also sent a similar letter to Washington state concerning alleged non-citizen voters, according to Thompson's order. That letter demanded that the state's secretary of state stop processing the ballots in question.
The actions form part of a campaign spanning years in which Trump and his administration have sought to combat alleged widespread voter fraud. Before the midterms, Trump alleged extensive cheating involving postal ballots and voting by non-citizens. He also offered a $1m reward for reports of voter fraud in the US that result in a conviction.
Research indicates that voter fraud is extremely rare. BBC Verify reported that the Heritage Foundation's database recorded 24 cases of non-citizens convicted of voting between 2005 and 2025. In Saturday's post, Trump criticised recent court decisions concerning his administration's allegations of possible election fraud and pledged to continue his efforts.
