A federal judge in San Francisco on Friday granted a temporary restraining order barring the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security from threatening, intimidating or coercing state and local election officials over ballots from voters the government alleges are ineligible.
U.S. District Judge Trina L. Thompson found that the plaintiffs, unions SEIU and AFSCME and civil rights groups LULAC and the NAACP, are likely to succeed on their claim that the defendants violated Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act. She also found the government likely exceeded its authority under the Elections Clause.
She wrote that “free exercise of the right to vote is a core tenet of our democracy.”
The plaintiffs allege in their complaint and motion that DOJ and DHS officials ran a campaign to intimidate election workers, including by sending letters threatening aiding-and-abetting prosecutions. The plaintiffs say armed DHS officials delivered letters to California counties on Oct. 23, and that DOJ opened a criminal investigation and issued grand jury subpoenas. Defendants also demanded California sequester about 20,000 ballots and later sent a similar letter to Washington state.
The order bars defendants from demanding that officials halt processing, segregate or not count ballots of registered voters solely because the government alleges they’re ineligible. It also bars them from demanding that officials remove voters from the rolls or reject their ballots on that basis, and from threatening prosecution for refusing to comply or for counting ballots as state and federal law require. It also directs them to notify any recipients of their letters that the demands have been enjoined, and to tell the court of any pending search warrants, subpoenas or demands for election materials.
Thompson wrote that workers who process ballots as the law requires “do not violate federal criminal law” even if a ballot belongs to a voter the government alleges is ineligible.
The order expires Nov. 16. DOJ’s response is due Nov. 2, and a hearing is set for Nov. 13.
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