NORFOLK, Va. — Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday left open the possibility that the Justice Department could seek to block states from certifying votes in the midterm elections, though Blanche insisted it wasn’t his intention to “improperly interfere with elections.”
\n\nNBC News reported this week that the Justice Department is weighing more election-related litigation against states, following a lawsuit against California to compel state officials to review 18,000 registered voters the DOJ suspected could be noncitizens seeking to cast fraudulent ballots. California has an all-mail election and sends out ballots automatically.
\n\nSeven other states and Washington, D.C., do, too: Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont and Washington state. Mail voting has frequently been a target for President Donald Trump’s voter fraud claims, which have escalated ahead of the 2026 midterms, even as he uses the voting method to cast his ballot in Florida.
\n\nThe legal threats come amid a broader campaign by the Trump administration to zero in on what voting experts say is a relatively rare phenomenon of voting by noncitizens.
\n\nThe Justice Department’s role in U.S. elections is limited by law, chiefly allowing it to safeguard civil rights and prosecute individuals who violate election law.
\n\nWhile private…
Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/