Report: Trump DOJ considers suing more states to control ballot counting, before or after the midterms

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering filing lawsuits against additional states before or after the midterms as part of its effort to force states to investigate alleged noncitizens on their voter rolls, according to an NBC News report.

A DOJ official involved in the investigations told NBC News that the department is looking at states that automatically send mail ballots to registered voters, though the official would not identify which specific states could face lawsuits.

The revelation comes less than a week after the Trump administration sued California and Los Angeles County, demanding that election officials set aside ballots belonging to thousands of people federal agencies have identified as likely noncitizens until their citizenship can be verified.

California automatically mails ballots to registered voters. 

Seven other states — Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington — as well as Washington, D.C., also conduct all-mail elections.

The DOJ official said the department plans to continue pushing California to segregate the disputed ballots and believes it can do so for 30 days after Election Day, while counties continue certifying election results.

The official would not say whether DOJ would seek to delay certification in California or in other states that could face similar lawsuits.

That possibility would mark a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to intervene in state election administration as voting is already underway.

DOJ’s California lawsuit is already facing intense scrutiny over the reliability of the federal government’s list.

Los Angeles County reviewed a sample of records from the list and found that nearly half were canceled or inactive registrations, more than 70% had no voting history and roughly one in four listed a birthplace in the United States.

The department’s broader effort to identify alleged noncitizen voters has also repeatedly produced false positives.

This summer, the Trump administration claimed nearly 16,000 Nevada voters were potential noncitizens. DHS later narrowed that number to 185, but Nevada officials said state records showed all 185 were citizens.

The possible expansion of DOJ’s litigation campaign comes as the administration ramps up federal investigations of alleged voter fraud ahead of the midterms.

Last month, a senior DOJ official reportedly warned federal prosecutors that they could face termination if they refused to pursue voter fraud investigations referred by the FBI or Department of Homeland Security, though DOJ disputed that account.

Homeland Security Investigations has also launched what internal guidance called a “coordinated criminal voter fraud surge initiative” in nine states, including California, Nevada and Washington.