Trump Administration Expands Voting and Ballot-Counting Lawsuits, Investigations Ahead of Midterms

The Trump Administration is expanding lawsuits and investigations related to voting and ballot counting ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, The Washington Post reported on October 31 (local time).

The state where the administration has been most active is California, considered a Democratic stronghold. The Justice Department sued to prevent the counting of ballots cast by more than 20,000 voters who may not be U.S. citizens. It also warned election officials that they could be charged with aiding and abetting illegal voting if they count ballots cast by noncitizens.

A federal district court in California noted that segregating certain ballots could likely violate the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act, and the National Voter Registration Act. A federal appeals court upheld the ruling the previous day. The U.S. District Court in San Francisco also barred the Justice Department from ordering California election officials to remove certain voters from voter rolls or not count certain ballots.

The Justice Department also sued in Alaska over certification of the results of the U.S. Senate election. It sought to prevent the state government from certifying the results if the Democratic candidate wins.

The Justice Department also argued that voters may have been confused because one of the candidates, Dan J. Sullivan, has a name similar to that of incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan. Separately from the lawsuit, it is also conducting a criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding Dan J. Sullivan's candidacy.

The Trump Administration also said it could sue in Washington state unless certain voters' ballots are invalidated.

In 2025, the Justice Department asked states to submit voter rolls containing sensitive information, including the last few digits of Social Security numbers, but most states refused. It then sued 30 states and Washington, D.C., but lost all 27 cases that have been decided.

Since the start of the Trump Administration's second term, the Justice Department has charged about 200 people in 22 states with illegally voting or registering to vote as noncitizens.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.