A federal judge in California on Wednesday blocked the Homeland Security Department from carrying out most field operations focused on uncovering voter fraud in nine states. The ruling came less than two weeks before the midterm elections. The Trump administration has launched a blitz of operations focused on finding evidence of noncitizen voting or tying up election processes in states where it has dubiously claimed that large numbers of noncitizens are registered to vote.
The ruling covered stops and field interviews being carried out by hundreds of Department of Homeland Security agents assigned to fan out across the country in search of instances of voter fraud, under what the administration has referred to as the "Election Integrity" initiative. The judge found that the operations lacked sufficient legal justification and could intimidate voters ahead of the election. The decision was praised by voting rights advocates as a necessary safeguard for democratic access.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing