The Ninth Circuit rulings allow the Trump administration to threaten state election workers with criminal charges, after Judge Trina Thompson temporarily barred threats tied solely to federal allegations that voters were ineligible.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has permitted the Trump administration to threaten state election workers with criminal charges, the Guardian said on 3 November 2026. Its account described a series of rulings late the previous night and earlier that day.
On 30 October, US District Judge Trina Thompson had temporarily barred federal officials from threatening workers over processing ballots solely because the administration alleged that registered voters were ineligible. The appeals court’s precise reasoning and the full scope of its rulings remain unclear.
Thompson found that the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security likely violated the Voting Rights Act’s ban on voter intimidation by threatening workers who processed disputed ballots. The finding supported temporary relief; it was not a final judgment on the case.
Her order also barred demands that officials remove registered voters from rolls, refuse them ballots, separate their ballots or decline to count them based solely on the administration’s allegations. Thompson directed the administration to tell governments that received the disputed letters that their demands and prosecution threats had been blocked.
Thompson said the public interest favored letting election workers follow federal law and election procedures with Election Day approaching. Ballots had already been issued and voting had begun, she said.
The Legal Defense Fund, which represents the plaintiffs, said acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter demanded in an October 13 letter that California’s secretary of state and Los Angeles County’s registrar of voters set aside ballots from approximately 20,000 registered voters. The Justice Department then warned county officials that workers processing ballots from people on its list of suspected ineligible voters could face prosecution.
The court denied the Trump administration’s emergency request on 2 November after lower courts rejected its bid. The administration alleges the mail ballots came from noncitizens.
The Legal Defense Fund said a federal judge rejected the administration’s threats and effort to invalidate ballots on 28 October, warning that the effort would disrupt an election already underway and discount US citizens' votes.
The administration said its efforts to obtain voter-registration information from states ahead of the November 3 elections were intended to prevent noncitizen voting and protect election integrity.
In a separate proceeding on 30 October, the Ninth Circuit denied the Justice Department’s emergency request to set aside California mail ballots associated with roughly 20,000 voters federal officials identified as likely noncitizens while officials checked the voters' citizenship status. The US Supreme Court rejected the administration’s demand to set aside the contested ballots on 2 November, separately from the later appeals court rulings on prosecution threats.
The Legal Defense Fund said the lawsuit was filed in federal court in Northern California 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.
SEIU President April Verrett said the union represents more than 3,000 workers nationwide who help run elections. AFSCME President Patrick Moran said its members serve as election workers in California and many other states.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to stop efforts to disqualify registered voters and intimidate election workers, and to reassure officials that faithfully performing their duties under election law will not lead to prosecution.
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Update ·
Later appeals court rulings permit prosecution threats against election workers after the district judge temporarily barred them.
