Federal judge orders Justice Department to stop threatening Washington state election officials

A federal judge in Seattle has ordered the Justice Department to stop insisting that Washington state throw out the ballots of people suspected of being noncitizens and to stop threatening election officials who defy the federal government’s demands.

U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead issued a temporary restraining order Thursday evening in response to a lawsuit filed last week by a voter mobilization organization, a union and a Latin American group.

“Over the next two weeks, as Washington counties count and certify ballots already cast, DOJ cannot require election officials to void a registered voter’s ballot because the voter’s name appears on a federal list and cannot threaten such officials with prosecution for counting votes as required by state law,” White head wrote.

The lawsuit was motivated by a voter list of around 400 people Top Washington State Federal Prosecutors Sent to Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs on October 26. Prosecutors said those on the list were suspected of being non-citizens who voted in previous elections and requested that ballots cast by those individuals not be counted “until citizenship can be determined.”