Justice Department Not Ruling Out Blocking Election Certification

Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday declined to definitively rule out the possibility that the Justice Department could seek to block states from certifying election results, though he stressed such an action is not intended. His remarks came just 12 days before the midterm elections.

When asked directly if there were any circumstances under which the Justice Department would attempt to prevent states from certifying their election results, Blanche responded, "Yes, of course there are scenarios we could all come up with hypothetically — some doomsday scenario, for example." He added, "I don't think it's proper to to make any kind of conclusory statements about what's going to happen in the future, because I have no idea what's going to happen in the future."

Blanche's comments followed recent actions by the Trump administration to tighten restrictions on noncitizen voting, despite evidence suggesting such occurrences are rare. Earlier this year, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at curbing mail-in voting, but the Supreme Court blocked this measure in September.

More recently, the Justice Department initiated legal action against California and Los Angeles for declining to remove ballots from approximately 20,000 registered voters the administration identified as suspected noncitizens. The criteria for these determinations remain unclear.

A federal judge issued a block on Wednesday against the Department of Homeland Security's election-related investigations into alleged noncitizen voting in nine states where the agency had concentrated its efforts. These states include California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin.

During a press conference, Blanche reiterated that the DOJ's objective was to alert officials to potential issues and that the department was "not trying to create chaos." He stated, "It’s never our intention, to improperly interfere with elections or the state confirmation process or certification process." However, he continued, "But to say that there’s no circumstances that we would ever do that - of course I’m not going to say that."

Blanche further clarified his position, stating, "Am I planning my days around the election to be somewhere to not certify? Of course not, no," shortly before departing on a flight.

These statements drew immediate criticism from some Democrats. The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom described Blanche's response as a "code red" situation, asserting, "Trump’s politicized DOJ is now saying out loud that they may interfere in the election in a desperate, unprecedented, and completely unAmerican and anti-democratic attempt to keep Trump and MAGA in power," according to a social media post from Newsom's press office.

The midterm elections feature several high-profile races for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, and governorships that could potentially be decided by narrow margins.