Judge Blocks DHS Voter Probes in Nine States
The Facts
- A federal judge in California on Wednesday barred the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from carrying out elections-related field operations and interviews in nine states involving people agents know or should reasonably suspect are U.S. citizens.
- The injunction covers California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. It doesn't take effect until Friday, giving the government time to appeal. It expires after the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
- U.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin found plaintiffs likely to succeed on a Voting Rights Act claim barring intimidation of voter assistance, noting that unlawful intimidation includes conduct inspiring fear of legal repercussions or surveillance.
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The Spin
Democratic narrative
This judge was right to pause armed federal agents showing up at the doors of American citizens to quiz them about their ballots. That's intimidation, not election security. Target lists stitched together from commercial data that wrongly flag naturalized citizens as foreigners prove the whole operation was reckless and can prevent people from their fundamental right to vote.
Republican narrative
Making sure only citizens cast ballots is the most basic guardrail and verifying a shaky registration means talking to the person on it. This ruling even concedes that investigating unlawful voting is legal, so handcuffing agents in nine states only shields bad registrations. Enforcement of laws already on the books shouldn't stall because a lawsuit calls a knock on the door intimidating.
