Washington, United States: A US federal judge temporarily blocked on Friday the Justice Department from threatening state and local election officials with criminal prosecution if they fail to comply with its directives on processing ballots.
The order by Judge Trina Thompson in the Northern District of California deals a setback to Trump administration efforts to restrict voting by people it says might not be US citizens in the November 3 midterm elections.
The harshly worded temporary restraining order was issued in response to a case brought by labor union and civil rights groups against the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security.
"Defendants shall not threaten, intimidate or coerce state or local elections officials or workers to demand that they halt processing the ballots of any registered voter solely on the basis that the ballot belongs to an individual alleged by Defendants to be ineligible to vote," Thompson wrote.
The judge also ruled that Justice Department officials "shall not threaten state or local election officials and workers with criminal prosecution for failure to comply" with such demands.
President Donald Trump's Republican Party is at risk of losing its control of Congress in next Tuesday's elections, and critics have accused his administration of trying to cast doubt on electoral results.
On Wednesday, a federal judge rejected the Justice Department's efforts to set aside the ballots of more than 20,000 California voters it said might not be citizens, slamming the move as brazen pre-election "interference."
In Friday's ruling, Thompson said that a restraining order, which expires on November 16, was justified "given the fast-approaching date of the Election" and because the plaintiffs "have demonstrated that they will likely succeed on the merits of their claims."
Thompson described the "intimidation" and threats of criminal prosecution of election workers as "contrary to law" and "arbitrary and capricious."
In a wide-ranging order, the judge said the defendants shall not demand the removal of specific registered voters from voter lists, nor refuse to issue ballots to specific voters nor demand ballots not be counted because of alleged ineligibility to vote.
For months, Trump -- who has never acknowledged his own election defeat by Joe Biden in 2020 -- has been claiming that there will be fraud in this year's midterms.
Studies repeatedly show that while rare cases of voter fraud exist, such incidents are minuscule and do not influence US election results.
