Federal Judge Bars Threats Against Election Workers Days Before the November 3 Vote

A federal judge has barred the U.S. Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security from threatening election workers with criminal prosecution over how they process and count ballots, in an emergency order issued four days before the November 3 midterm elections. U.S. District Judge Trina L. Thompson of the Northern District of California granted the temporary restraining order on Friday, October 30, in a case brought by the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the NAACP.

The order, which runs through November 16 with a further hearing set for November 13, bars the two departments from demanding that state or local election officials remove specific registered voters from the rolls, refuse them ballots, or segregate and withhold their ballots solely because the administration alleges those voters are ineligible. It also bars threats of prosecution against workers who refuse such demands or who count ballots in accordance with state and federal election law. The Associated Press reported that the order was issued before the Justice Department had weighed in on the case, and the department had no immediate comment on the ruling in the reporting read this cycle.

For Tallahassee, the order lands in the middle of the work it governs. Leon County is in its final weekend of early voting, which runs through Sunday, November 1, at 10 sites, ahead of Election Day on Tuesday, November 3, when polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and voters must use their assigned polling place. The ruling does not decide any individual voter's eligibility and does not resolve the underlying lawsuit; it holds the procedures in place - ballots processed and counted under state and federal law - while the case proceeds.