In victory for voters, judge orders Trump administration to stop challenging votes with noncitizen lists

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop pressuring states to investigate, set aside ballots, or refuse to count ballots from people it claims are ineligible to vote in the midterms.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Sue Chutkan, whom former President Barack Obama nominated, found the Trump administration likely violated federal privacy and rulemaking laws by creating and disseminating lists it claims contain noncitizens illegally registered to vote in certain states.

So far, the Trump administration has sent such lists to California and Washington. The Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently challenging nearly 21,000 potential votes in California, but it has suggested it may have identified another 17,000 alleged noncitizens. In Washington, the DOJ demanded that election officials set aside possible ballots from around 400 people it claims are noncitizens.

However, Chutkan’s sweeping order, issued just hours before Election Day, cripples the Trump administration’s central election-interference mechanisms.

The judge barred the federal government from sharing lists of alleged noncitizen voters with any additional states, localities or outside parties and, critically, blocked it from directing states that already received the list to act on them.

In issuing the order, the judge sided with the League of Women Voters, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the Electronic Privacy Information Center. The groups are challenging the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to collect millions of Americans’ voter records as part of a nationwide investigation into unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.

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