Democrats Sue Trump Administration Over Alleged Pressure on State Election Officials

The Democratic National Committee and other Democratic groups have sued the Trump administration, accusing it of using unproven claims of noncitizen voting to pressure states and threaten election officials with prosecution. The suit sets up another legal fight less than two weeks before Election Day, ABC News reported.

The Justice Department says its actions are meant to protect the integrity of elections, and it has defended them as grounded in the law.

What the lawsuit claims

The plaintiffs include the DNC, its House and Senate campaign arms, several lawmakers and a voter. They filed the suit late Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C. According to Axios, it names President Donald Trump, the Justice and Homeland Security departments and their heads as defendants.

The complaint asks a judge to declare the administration's actions unlawful and to block further interference. It alleges that the administration is trying to force states to remove voters from registration lists and to set aside certain ballots, and that it threatens state and local officials, including with jail time, for carrying out their lawful duties. The plaintiffs argue that those threats intimidate both voters and officials in violation of Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act. The suit also argues that a president has no constitutional authority to decide who may vote or to dictate how states count ballots.

The filing criticizes the federal lists of suspected noncitizens as “shoddily compiled” and says they have fallen apart under scrutiny. As an example, Axios reported, the suit cites a Department of Homeland Security claim that Nevada had nearly 16,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls. The department later said it had confirmed 185 of them were noncitizens, but state records later indicated that all 185 were citizens.

What the administration says

A Justice Department spokesperson told Axios that the department enforces federal election law, that election integrity is a top priority, and that every action it has taken is grounded in the law and is being litigated in open court. The White House and Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Axios, and ABC News said it had reached out to the White House.

The administration has clashed with officials in California, Nevada and other states in recent weeks. The Justice Department and Homeland Security have accused several states of knowingly keeping noncitizens on their rolls and refusing to work with federal officials to remove them. Department spokesperson Kiersten Pels accused California of “willful blindness.” She said the department notified the state that noncitizens are likely registered, asked it to independently verify the citizenship of anyone on a list it supplied who cast a ballot, and that California refused.

What the California figures show

The lawsuit says the Justice Department demanded that California deny ballots to more than 20,000 people flagged on a federal list as suspected ineligible voters. In court papers filed Tuesday, two officials in the Los Angeles County registrar's office described a preliminary analysis of 200 people from that list. ABC News reported that nearly 40% of them indicated they were born in the United States, which the officials called strong evidence of citizenship, and that 71.2% of the records showed no voting history.

Axios described the county's preliminary findings differently, saying more than 25% of those flagged listed a U.S. birthplace and that others already had their registrations canceled. The reports differ on the share, and the underlying filing was not available to this newsroom.

What's at stake for voters before November

The states involved argue that the federal steps, taken weeks before the midterms, amount to overreach and are meant to sow distrust in the result. The Democratic plaintiffs say the demands could leave eligible voters off the rolls or without a counted ballot. Axios noted that audits and investigations have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud, and that research shows noncitizen voting is rare and not on a scale that could swing elections.

A court ruling could determine whether the federal government can continue pressing states to act on its lists as voting gets under way.

Around Prague, based on reporting by ABC News, Axios