# Trump DOJ wages failing campaign to undermine elections > The Department of Justice has pursued dozens of legal actions to sow doubt about election security ahead of this week's vote, but courts have rejected nearly every attempt. - Title: Trump DOJ wages failing campaign to undermine elections - Summary: The Department of Justice has pursued dozens of legal actions to sow doubt about election security ahead of this week's vote, but courts have rejected nearly… - Keywords: trump administration, department of justice, todd blanche, election interference, voter rolls, noncitizen voting, california, alaska, nevada, washington, 2024 election, federal courts - Source: WIRED — https://wired.com/story/the-trump-administration-is-wreaking-havoc-on-the-electoral-system-before-the-midterms - Author: Tess Owen - Published: 2026-11-02T15:13:39.635+00:00 - Read time: 3 min - Topics: trump administration, department of justice, todd blanche, election interference, voter rolls, noncitizen voting, california, alaska, nevada, washington, 2024 election, federal courts ## DOJ launches coordinated election attacks The Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Todd Blanche, has spent the past year demanding unredacted voter rolls, issuing executive orders, raiding election offices, and proposing new laws to disenfranchise millions. ## Blanche promoted conspiracy theories about noncitizen voting Attorney General Todd Blanche is a proponent of conspiracy theories about widespread noncitizen voting in the 2020 election. Verified noncitizen voting is vanishingly rare, as multiple bipartisan investigations have shown. ## DOJ threatens election officials with prosecution On Thursday, the DOJ sent letters to election officials in all fifty states warning them of criminal action if they failed to preserve election records for twenty-two days. ## Strategy is to create chaos and claim fraud Shelby Wayment, staff attorney at UCLA Law's Safeguarding Democracy Project, says the DOJ is trying to create chaos and distrust, filing cases knowing they have virtually no chance of winning. > They're trying to create chaos and distrust in the system. They're trying to file these now knowing they have virtually no chance of winning and then after they can claim the election was fraudulent. ## Courts have blocked nearly all DOJ efforts Thirty-four federal district courts have ruled against President Trump since he took office in twenty twenty-five, blocking access to voter rolls and preventing executive orders being implemented, according to analysis from the Brennan Center. ## DOJ actions are marketing, not substance Justin Levitt, former deputy assistant attorney general at the DOJ's Civil Rights Division, says the actions are about showing force and optics.The federal government is not in charge of elections; state and local officials are. > What you're seeing now is a ton of marketing. They are trying to communicate that they're in charge, and I think it's not working. ## California: DOJ seeks to sequester mail-in ballots In October, the DOJ filed a federal lawsuit seeking to compel California to sequester mail-in ballots for approximately twenty thousand voters, claiming they were noncitizens. On Wednesday, a federal judge rejected the request. ## Judge rejects unprecedented federal election coercion US District Judge David Carter wrote that never before in American history has the federal government sought to coerce a state to abandon its constitutional elections procedures on the eve of an election. > Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch. ## DOJ list of noncitizens fails scrutiny A federal judge ordered the DOJ to turn over its list of around twenty thousand names to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. ## Alaska: DOJ seeks to block Peltola certification In October, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit designed to block certification of the election result in Alaska's US Senate race if Democrat candidate Mary Peltola wins, citing a spoiler candidate with a name similar… ## Peltola denies involvement in spoiler candidate Mary Peltola told supporters in Juneau that she knew nothing about other candidates on the ballot except for herself and the incumbent. She said she is not interested in tricking voters. > I just want to clear the air: I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. I am not interested in tricking voters. ## Alaska governor threatens to withhold certification On Thursday, Alaska governor Michael Dunleavy ordered an investigation into whether state criminal or civil charges could be pursued against Peltola. ## Federal judge blocks DOJ Alaska lawsuit On Sunday, a federal judge threw out the DOJ's lawsuit, ruling that its request likely violated Alaskans' right to a secret ballot. Hours later, the DOJ asked a federal appeals court to overturn the ruling. ## Nevada: noncitizen claims collapse under scrutiny In July, the Department of Homeland Security claimed over two hundred seventy thousand noncitizen voters in four states. ## Washington: DOJ raises concerns too close to election The DOJ claimed federal data showed four hundred noncitizens were registered to vote in Washington and demanded officials isolate those ballots. > The timing of your letter is profoundly disappointing. If you had valid concerns about voter registrations, the time to raise them was a month ago. ## Texas GOP lawsuit demands hand-counted ballots The Potter County Republican Party filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent Texas from certifying the vote unless all ballots are counted by hand, citing purported threats from artificial intelligence and voting machine parts manufactured in… ## Election law expert dismisses Texas lawsuit Justin Levitt, former deputy assistant attorney general, described the Potter County lawsuit as nuts. He said he wished they had filed it in Comic Sans on the back of a Burger King place mat to… > That would be the technical term. I wish that they had filed the thing in Comic Sans on the back of a Burger King place mat, because I think that would help people evaluate how serious it is. ## Key takeaway The Trump administration's Department of Justice has launched coordinated legal attacks on election procedures across multiple states, but federal courts have blocked nearly all efforts.