A coalition of Democratic organizations, party leaders and a voter sued the Trump administration on Tuesday in federal court in Washington, accusing the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security of pressuring states to purge voter rolls and threatening local election officials less than two weeks before Election Day.1,4,6
The 44-page complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It asks a judge to block the administration's alleged attempts to force states to remove voters from registration lists and segregate certain ballots, and to stop what the plaintiffs describe as threats against officials. The plaintiffs ask the court to declare the administration's actions unlawful. The suit names President Donald Trump, the two departments and their heads as defendants. Plaintiffs include the Democratic National Committee, its congressional and Senate campaign arms, several high-profile lawmakers and others, according to ABC News, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and a voter, according to Axios.1,4,6
The filing comes as the administration has clashed with officials in California, Nevada and other states over allegations of noncitizen voting in recent weeks. The Justice Department and Homeland Security have accused several states of knowingly harboring noncitizens on their voter rolls and refusing to work with federal authorities to remove them.1
The lawsuit cites a Homeland Security claim that Nevada had nearly 16,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls. The department later said it had confirmed that 185 of those people were noncitizens. State records later indicated that all 185 were citizens, the suit says.6
The dispute over California is centered on a list of some 20,000 people that the Justice Department says were accused of being ineligible to vote. The lawsuit says the department demanded that California deny ballots to more than 20,000 people based on that federal list of suspected ineligible voters.1,6
Two officials in the Los Angeles County registrar's office delivered the results of a "preliminary analysis" of 200 individuals from the list, according to court papers filed Tuesday. The officials said nearly 40% of those 200 "indicate that they were born in the United States, which is strong evidence of citizenship; and 71.2% of the records have no voting history." Axios, citing the Los Angeles County investigation, put the share with a U.S. birthplace at more than 25% of those flagged, and said other people on the list had already had their registrations canceled. The two accounts differ on that figure, and the reports do not explain the difference.1,6
In a statement to ABC News, Justice Department spokesperson Kiersten Pels accused California of "willful blindness." "California cannot facilitate the violation of federal law," Pels said. "We notified California that noncitizens are likely registered to vote, and we asked the state to independently verify the citizenship of any ballots cast by people on a list that we provided. It refused to do so. Federal law doesn't permit this willful blindness."1
A Justice Department spokesperson told Axios in an emailed statement that "The Justice Department enforces federal election law, and election integrity is a top priority." The statement added that "Every action the Department has taken to protect the integrity of this year's elections is grounded in the law and being litigated in open court. Ensuring that only eligible citizens vote and that every lawful ballot is counted is a requirement of federal law."6
A White House spokesperson told Axios that "Democrats and the media continue to dismiss concerns about voter fraud, the Trump Administration is taking decisive lawful action to protect our elections including prosecuting election crimes, strengthening election infrastructure security, and protecting vulnerable voters from fraud and coercion." Axios said the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to its request for comment. ABC News said it had reached out to the White House for comment.1,6
The complaint describes the administration pressuring states to purge their voter registration lists using "shoddily compiled lists of supposed noncitizens—target lists that have crumbled upon the barest inspection." It also says that "For over a decade now, President Donald J. Trump has bombarded the American people with lies and misinformation about American elections and voter fraud," and that "While these lies have been debunked at every turn, that has never deterred the President from employing them as a pretext to seize control over elections, even as courts overwhelmingly reject that effort."1
The attorneys also accuse the officials of intimidation. "Department of Justice and DHS officials have sought to bolster their interference efforts through a persistent stream of threats and intimidation directed towards state and local election officials across the country," the groups' attorneys wrote. They argue that "Defendants' coercive threats of legal retaliation against state officials, including even potential imprisonment, for simply following state law and aiding registered voters in casting their ballots objectively intimidate voters and election officials alike, in violation of Section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act." The suit also argues that the president has no constitutional authority to decide who gets to vote or to dictate how states count ballots, according to Axios.6
Axios noted that investigations and audits have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud, and that research shows noncitizen voting is rare. States claim the administration's steps, taken weeks before the midterms, reflect federal overreach and are meant to sow distrust in the outcome of the election, ABC News reported. The reports do not say when a judge might rule on the request for an order blocking the administration's actions, and the Justice Department has said its actions are being litigated in open court.1,6
