The Democrats have sued U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration amid ongoing accusations of electoral fraud.
The lawsuit alleges that the Trump administration has tried to pressure state election officials to remove eligible voters from voter rolls, refuse ballots, and comply with federal demands based on questionable claims of noncitizen voting.
Both the White House and the Department of Justice reject the allegations, insisting that their actions are lawful efforts to prevent election fraud.
A Lengthy Lawsuit
The 44-page lawsuit was filed on Tuesday, 20th October.
It names several claimants, including Democratic Party groups and U.S. Senate and House leaders, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.
The complaint lists President Trump as a plaintiff, along with the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The complaint also names Todd Blanche, the U.S. Attorney General, and Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin.
“For over a decade now, President Donald J. Trump has bombarded the American people with lies and misinformation about American elections and voter fraud,” the lawsuit reads. “While these lies have been debunked at every turn, that has never deterred the President from employing them as a pretext to seize control over elections, even as courts overwhelmingly reject that effort. This case concerns two of the most recent iterations of this disturbing trend.”
Intimidation and Imprisonment
The complaint lists several allegations, including accusations that DoJ and DHS officials “have sought to bolster their interference efforts through a persistent stream of threats and intimidation” directed towards election officials across the country. The same paragraph cites a Truth Social post in which Trump said state officials in California “will all go to jail for a long time” if they count ballots from possible non-citizens in the state.
“This pattern of intimidation is not rooted in any legitimate belief that election officials are engaged in misconduct; rather, it is meant to frighten officials into complying with the administration’s demands to remove voters from the rolls unlawfully; to deny ballots to lawfully registered voters; and to segregate lawful ballots cast by registered voters based on spurious and unreliable claims that they are not citizens,” the lawsuit reads.
Nevada’s Non-Citizens
Beyond California’s disputed list of more than 20,000 voters, the lawsuit claims DHS initially flagged nearly 16,000 potential noncitizens in Nevada, later identifying 185 individuals it claimed were confirmed noncitizens.
According to the lawsuit, Nevada officials found that all 185 appeared to be U.S. citizens and argued that DHS provided no meaningful evidence contradicting its records.
The DHS also identified “associated ‘voter case numbers’” for all 185 voters as well as an additional 6,000 that had been flagged but not manually reviewed.
The lawsuit alleges that DHS provided no further information to Nevada officials, nor did it provide voter case numbers for the remaining 10,000 identified voters, but DHS reiterated that the state should investigate all 15,903 cases.
“Nevada responded that the DHS never bothered to provide a list of 15,903 individuals, only smaller lists of individuals purportedly identified by voter case numbers,” the lawsuit states. “Nevada further explained that these voter case numbers were a poor fit for identifying specific individuals because Nevada had recently switched from county-run voter registration to a statewide system, and individuals may have been assigned different numbers before and after the change.”
Official Denial
Both the DoJ and the White House responded to Axios’s inquiry.
“The Justice Department enforces federal election law, and election integrity is a top priority,” the DoJ said in a statement. “Every action the Department has taken to protect the integrity of this year’s elections is grounded in the law and being litigated in open court. Ensuring that only eligible citizens vote and that every lawful ballot is counted is a requirement of federal law.”
A White House spokesman also responded to the claims, saying that while “Democrats and the media continue to dismiss concerns about voter fraud, the Trump Administration is taking decisive lawful action to protect our elections including prosecuting election crimes, strengthening election infrastructure security, and protecting vulnerable voters from fraud and coercion.”
About the Author: Shay Bottomley
Shay Bottomley is a British journalist. He has written for the Western Standard, Business Insider, Maidenhead Advertiser, Slough Express, Windsor Express, Berkshire Live and Southend Echo.
