Trump Officials Barred From Threatening Election Authorities After Judge Finds Likely Voting Law Breach

Federal officials have been temporarily barred from threatening election workers, pressuring ballot processing or demanding last-minute voter-roll purges just days before the 2026 US midterm elections, after a judge found they had likely breached voting rights protections.

US District Judge Trina Thompson in California ordered the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to stop warning local officials they could face prosecution over how they handle ballots. Her temporary order says both departments must not pressure officials to set aside ballots, purge voter rolls or halt ballot processing.

The administration has appealed.

Judge Issues Temporary Restraining Order

Thompson, who sits in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, granted a temporary restraining order late on Friday 30 October, CBS News reported. The suit had been filed only the day before by labour unions and other groups representing election workers. The order was issued before the government had responded, prompting criticism from the Justice Department.

The judge found that federal officials likely breached the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibits 'attempting to intimidate, threaten or coerce' people who help others cast a ballot. In her preliminary assessment, she also found that the government appeared to be acting outside its legal or constitutional authority.

'Free exercise of the right to vote is a core tenet of our democracy,' Thompson wrote. Although the government framed its actions as a bid to stop noncitizen voting, she said they were 'likely to have the effect of interfering with election administration and disenfranchising lawful voters.'

The finding is preliminary, made at the restraining order stage rather than in a final judgment. The order arrived with the midterm elections set for Tuesday 3 November. It expires on 16 November, and the court has scheduled a further hearing for 13 November, CBS News reported.

Letters at Centre of Pressure Dispute

The dispute centres on a pressure campaign led by Harmeet Dhillon, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. In July, Dhillon sent letters to all 50 states and Washington DC threatening criminal prosecution of local election officials, according to CBS News, which cited the lawsuit.

The department then pressed California officials to separate out the mail ballots of roughly 20,000 people it alleges are not US citizens. California officials dispute the figure, and it does not show how many on the list are noncitizens or that any voted unlawfully. It issued grand jury subpoenas to Los Angeles County officials and demanded lists of voters it believed might be noncitizens.

The letters went to California's secretary of state and the Los Angeles County registrar, the BBC reported. They demanded that officials set aside the ballots of 20,000 registered voters the administration believes are 'likely' noncitizens.

The order applies to both the Justice Department and Homeland Security and runs nationwide, Newser reported. It bars the agencies from threatening prosecution and from demanding that officials sequester ballots or decline to count certain votes, purge voter rolls or stop processing ballots. It also requires the Justice Department to notify the court of any pending search warrant applications or subpoenas.

Unions Hail Win For Election Workers

The Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees were among the plaintiffs. The watchdog group Protect Democracy was also part of the coalition that sued.

Under the order, the department must inform state and local officials who received warnings that the 'threats of prosecution to election officials and workers... have been enjoined.' Thompson said the public's 'paramount interest' in election workers doing their jobs outweighed the administration's interests, with Election Day only days away.

AFSCME president Patrick Moran called the ruling 'a resounding win for the election workers who make our democracy happen.' Protect Democracy described the threats as 'yet another attempt designed to shake Americans' confidence in the election results.'

Norm Eisen, co-founder of Democracy Defenders Action, said: 'DOJ tried to bully election workers with threats and intimidation.'

Justice Department and Trump Push Back

In a statement on Saturday, a Justice Department spokesperson said the judge had ruled 'without even waiting to hear from the United States' and accused the court of a 'two-track system of justice.' The spokesperson added: 'The Department is reviewing the order and evaluating all options.' The administration has since appealed the order.

Trump attacked the rulings on Saturday. 'Why would they reject fixing Election Fraud?' he wrote, vowing to keep fighting for 'Election Integrity,' the BBC reported. He has previously called voter fraud 'rampant' and offered a £750,000 ($1m) reward for reports of fraud that lead to convictions.

Available evidence suggests noncitizen voting is rare. BBC Verify reported that a Heritage Foundation database identified 24 noncitizen voting convictions between 2005 and 2025, and studies suggest such cases are extremely rare.

Thompson's ruling followed setbacks for the department in separate proceedings. On Wednesday 28 October, US District Judge David O. Carter of the Central District of California rejected its bid to force the state to set aside the 20,000 ballots, saying the threats 'must stop.' On Friday, an appeals court also refused a request to segregate the ballots.

The ruling prompted reaction online. 'For the first time in American history, a judge has had to order the President... to stop threatening election officials,' one X user wrote in a post viewed more than 33,000 times. The order itself is directed at federal agencies and officials, not at Trump personally.