Order says local officials can’t be forced to separate or stop counting ballots that the government deems to be disputed

Order says local officials can’t be forced to separate or stop counting ballots that the government deems to be disputed

A federal judge has barred the justice department from threatening or coercing election workers to stop processing ballots.

The order issued late Friday also bars the justice department from demanding local election officials segregate or not count ballots that the federal government deems may have been cast by ineligible voters.

It marks another blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to assert control over local elections.

It comes after a federal appeals court on Friday rejected the justice department’s request for California to set aside disputed ballots received in the midterm election, the latest setback for the Trump administration’s efforts to assert control over state-run elections.

  • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    30·
    17 hours ago

    I’ve become way too jaded over the past decade or so. Still every once in awhile I find myself shaking off that apathy, or callousness, and that headline did it for me. I’m imagining my 40 year old self, or 30, or whatever, way back in the past, seeing that headline and just wondering…what the fuck is going on?

  • Potocobe@lemmy.zip
    10·
    16 hours ago

    Isn’t that like, a backwards way of just saying follow the law? Isn’t it already illegal for anyone to interfere with an election? We have got to put mechanisms in place to hold national referendums to remove people from office. Congress clearly can’t be trusted on its own since it can be co-opted. Something triggered from the bottom up if the people think there are shenanigans going on. I think we are coming up on the point of no return when it comes to taking back our power over government. If we don’t do it soon we are going to lose our ability to do it at all.