Judge bars Trump's DOJ from threatening election workers with prosecution days before Nov. 3
Unions and civil rights groups won an emergency order that also stops demands to purge voters or set aside ballots.
A federal judge in San Francisco on Friday evening barred the Trump Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security from threatening election workers with criminal prosecution over how they handle ballots, four days before the Nov. 3 election.
U.S. District Judge Trina L. Thompson of the Northern District of California granted a temporary restraining order, a short-term emergency order, in Service Employees International Union v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 3:26-cv-12800), the order shows. SEIU, AFSCME, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the NAACP brought the suit. She ruled without hearing from the department first, the AP reported.
What the order bars
Until 5 p.m. on Nov. 16, DOJ and DHS may not:
- pressure election workers to stop processing a registered voter's ballot "solely on the basis that the ballot belongs to an individual alleged by Defendants to be ineligible to vote";
- demand, on that basis, that officials purge specific voters, refuse them ballots, or set aside their ballots;
- threaten workers with prosecution for refusing those demands or for counting ballots as the law requires.
The departments must tell every government that received their ballot letters that the threats are blocked, and DOJ must disclose any pending search warrant applications or grand jury subpoenas tied to its voter lists.
Election workers who follow the law "do not violate federal criminal law even if a particular ballot belongs to a registered voter alleged by Defendants to be ineligible to vote," Thompson wrote. She found the plaintiffs likely to win under the Voting Rights Act's ban on intimidation and the Constitution's Elections Clause.
The pressure campaign
DOJ has demanded that California set aside about 20,000 ballots and Washington 405, and prosecutors subpoenaed Los Angeles County election workers to a grand jury. On Thursday, DOJ sent all 50 states letters on preserving election records that cited penalties of up to a year in prison, Democracy Docket reported.
DOJ did not immediately respond to the ruling. Spokesperson Kiersten Pels told AP, "Every ballot cast by an ineligible voter cancels out the vote of an American citizen." The department has not shown its lists are accurate: a federal judge found the California list not credible, and an appeals court refused Friday to pull those ballots.
What's next
DOJ must respond by noon Monday, and a preliminary injunction hearing is set for Nov. 13. The department could appeal. We applaud an order that lets the people counting votes do their jobs without the threat of prison.
Sources
- Order Granting Temporary Restraining Order, SEIU v. U.S. Department of Justice, No. 3:26-cv-12800-TLT (N.D. Cal. Oct. 30, 2026) (court order, via DocumentCloud)
- Appeals court rejects Justice Department request for California to set aside disputed ballots (Associated Press)
- Judge orders DOJ to stop threatening to prosecute election officials (Politico)
- Judge imposes sweeping emergency order halting DOJ pressure campaign on election officials (CNN)
- Trump admin reveals it's challenged voters in 5 states, and threatened election officials in all 50 (Democracy Docket)
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