Trump DOJ Files 2 Election Lawsuits as Trump Pushes Mail Voting Before Midterms
Updated
Updated · Salon · Oct 24
Trump DOJ Files 2 Election Lawsuits as Trump Pushes Mail Voting Before Midterms
3 articles · Updated · Salon · Oct 24
Summary
Less than two weeks before the midterms, Trump’s Justice Department sued in California and Alaska while Trump simultaneously urged Republicans to vote early, absentee, by mail or in person.
In California, federal prosecutors told election officials in at least 18 counties to identify and set aside suspected noncitizen ballots within 48 hours, following a lawsuit targeting ballots tied to about 20,000 people the administration says may be noncitizens.
California officials dispute the federal data as unreliable and warn eligible voters could be disenfranchised, while research has consistently found noncitizen voting to be extremely rare.
In Alaska, the department seeks to block certification of the Senate race in some circumstances if Republican Dan Sullivan loses, arguing another candidate named Daniel Sullivan could confuse voters; Trump said, “I’m the one that said do it.”
The paired cases, though legally distinct, show unusually aggressive federal intervention in state election administration even as Trump reverses his past attacks on mail voting to maximize Republican turnout.