A US federal judge on Monday, November 2, temporarily blocked the Trump administration from advancing efforts to challenge the eligibility of voters it suspects are not US citizens. The ruling prevents federal agencies from sending states lists of those voters or asking election officials to set aside their ballots or delay counting them until citizenship is verified.
Judge Tanya Chutkan said the government’s data may be unreliable, creating a risk that eligible, registered voters could be prevented from casting ballots. The case was brought by voting-rights and privacy organizations, which argued that sharing the lists would violate the Privacy Act of 1974, a law limiting the federal government’s disclosure of sensitive personal information.
The Justice Department argued that letters sent to California and Washington were intended to enforce a federal law prohibiting noncitizens from voting, and that the letters did not amount to a policy that a federal court could review. The administration had demanded that the states not count ballots from people identified on government lists as potentially lacking US citizenship.
The ruling is another judicial setback for President Donald Trump’s efforts to expand federal involvement in election administration ahead of the midterm elections, which will determine seats in the House and Senate. Noncitizen voting is illegal, and available evidence indicates that it is extremely rare. Trump has repeatedly accused states, which administer elections, of allowing noncitizens to vote.
The decision follows other court actions involving the administration’s demands. A federal judge in Los Angeles rejected the Justice Department’s request to require California to temporarily set aside mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters the department said were likely not citizens. An appeals court also denied the department’s request for emergency relief while its appeal is considered. Separately, a federal judge in San Francisco ordered the department to stop threatening state and local election officials with lawsuits for not complying with the administration’s demands.
Sources: CNN Brasil.