U.S. judge blocks DOJ and DHS from pressuring election officials over alleged ineligible voters ahead of midterms

U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson issued a sweeping temporary restraining order Friday barring the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security from pressuring state and local election officials to remove voters, segregate ballots or halt ballot processing based solely on federal claims that certain registered voters may be ineligible.

The ruling, issued just days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, also prevents federal officials from threatening election workers with criminal prosecution for refusing those demands or for processing and counting ballots in accordance with state and federal law.

Thompson wrote that senior DOJ and DHS officials had engaged in a campaign to “intimidate, threaten and coerce” election officials administering the 2026 election.

The order applies nationwide while it remains in effect and bars the administration from demanding that officials purge specific voters from registration rolls, refuse them ballots or separate and withhold their ballots solely because they appear on federal lists of alleged ineligible voters.

The judge also ordered the administration to notify the court about pending search-warrant applications, grand-jury subpoenas and other demands for access to election materials tied to those lists.

The temporary restraining order expires on Nov. 16, with a further hearing scheduled for Nov. 13.

The case was brought by labor unions and civil-rights groups, including SEIU, AFSCME, LULAC and the NAACP.

The ruling follows a separate federal appeals court decision rejecting the Justice Department’s request to force California to segregate ballots linked to roughly 20,000 people the administration suspects may not be U.S. citizens.

Thompson said the administration’s actions were likely to interfere with election administration and risk disenfranchising lawful voters.