---
title: "Judge Bars Justice Dept. From Threatening Election Workers"
url: https://www.hereasheville.com/2026/10/31/judge-bars-justice-department-threatening-election-workers/
date: 2026-10-31T09:58:30-04:00
modified: 2026-10-31T09:58:30-04:00
author: "HERE City National Desk"
categories: ["National", "Politics"]
site: "HERE Asheville"
attribution: "HERE Asheville"
---

# Judge Bars Justice Dept. From Threatening Election Workers

> SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, a federal judge in California on Friday ordered the Trump administration to stop warning state and local election workers that they could face criminal charges over ballots from voters it suspects are not citizens. U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson granted a temporary restraining order

*Source: [HERE Asheville](https://www.hereasheville.com/2026/10/31/judge-bars-justice-department-threatening-election-workers/) — October 31, 2026 by HERE City National Desk*

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, a federal judge in California on Friday ordered the Trump administration to stop warning state and local election workers that they could face criminal charges over ballots from voters it suspects are not citizens.

U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson granted a temporary restraining order sought by labor unions and civil rights groups, who sued a day earlier. She found the Justice Department likely ran afoul of the Voting Rights Act, which bars attempts to scare or strong-arm anyone helping voters.

Under the order, federal officials may not pressure election staff to stop processing ballots, pull names off the rolls, withhold ballots, or set ballots aside or leave them uncounted based only on the administration’s claim that a voter is ineligible.

Thompson also told the government to let the states and localities that got the disputed letters know that the threats in them have been blocked, and to tell the court about warrant applications or subpoenas it has in the works. The order runs through Nov. 16, with another hearing set for Nov. 13.

In her eight-page ruling, the judge wrote that ballots are already out and Americans are already voting, and that the public interest favors letting election workers do their jobs under federal law.

The Justice Department has spent the month pushing California to separate mail ballots tied to about 20,000 people it calls likely noncitizens. A federal judge refused that request Wednesday, and a federal appeals court turned down the administration’s emergency bid to set those ballots aside on Friday.

The administration says its efforts are meant to keep noncitizens from voting and to protect the integrity of the election.