Unions sue DOJ over ‘unprecedented and unlawful threats’ against California election officials

The unions representing election administration workers throughout California sued the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Thursday over what they called its “unprecedented and unlawful threats to state and local election workers.”

The lawsuit comes after the DOJ issued criminal subpoenas to state and local officials Thursday, alleging that they are unlawfully facilitating noncitizen voting for the midterm elections. 

“There’s clearly no legitimate law enforcement purpose here with regard to the service of these subpoenas, the ongoing litigation,” said Center for Election Innovation & Research executive director David Becker, a leading elections expert. “This is all a political effort at this point, and it’s an effort by what appears to be a desperate administration to interfere with the election.”

The plaintiffs are the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFL-CIO) and pro-voting groups. They argue that the subpoenas mark a dangerous escalation in the Trump administration’s effort to interfere in the midterm elections under the guise of exposing alleged noncitizens unlawfully registered to vote in the Golden State. 

“The threats, intimidation, and coercion are rapidly escalating as Election Day approaches, and are likely to continue well after Election Day as the state and local officials perform the work required by law to tabulate and certify the results of this election,” the lawsuit states.

The plaintiffs warn that the DOJ’s recent legal gambit and investigations into noncitizen voting in California “significantly risk interfering with the lawful administration of the ongoing 2026 midterm elections and the counting of ballots in accordance with federal and state law.”

Earlier this month, the DOJ sued California over the state’s refusal to set aside some 20,000 ballots of people it flagged using questionable data as “likely noncitizens” until the state can confirm their citizenship. 

The DOJ then escalated the fight by asking a federal judge to block California from tabulating ballots cast by those voters.

The Trump administration last week also arrested 11 people on the list and charged 28, alleging that they illegally registered to vote.

Now, the administration is targeting election officials across the state. According to the labor unions’ lawsuit, the DOJ “directed federal prosecutors to pursue criminal subpoenas of state and local election officials in California.” 

The New York Times reported that officials in the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s Office received subpoenas that demanded they turn over “copies of all internal communications about the Justice Department’s demands to county officials and the California secretary of state.”

Becker noted that the subpoenas are going to slow California election workers from counting ballots. 

“The president of the United States is going to be complaining about that and falsely alleging that there’s some fraud, he said. “At the same time, his Department of Justice is actively trying to distract California election officials and pull them away from the work, leading to what might appear to be slow counts.

The subpoenas also asked for election records that detail how county officials screen for unlawful voting by noncitizens and how officials plan to prevent noncitizen votes from being counted.

That constitutes a “coordinated campaign to intimidate, threaten, and coerce” state and local election officials, the labor unions’ lawsuit states. “They have directed these threats to any and all election workers who process any ballot cast by lawfully registered voters who Defendants have claimed at the eleventh hour, through extremely flawed methods, might be non-citizens.”