Federal Judge Bars DOJ From Pressuring Washington State to Pull Alleged Noncitizen Ballots

SEATTLE, A federal judge in Seattle on Thursday barred the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security from demanding that Washington state election officials set aside ballots cast by voters the government suspected of being noncitizens, delivering a rebuke to the Trump administration's post-election push to intervene in the 2026 midterms.

U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead, a Biden appointee, issued a 14-day temporary restraining order prohibiting the two federal agencies from ordering Washington officials to remove registered voters from the rolls, refuse them ballots, or segregate and withhold their votes from the count, according to a ruling reviewed by Democracy Docket.

The order came in response to a lawsuit filed by three plaintiff organizations: OneAmerica Votes, the Latino Community Fund of Washington State, and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

The dispute began Oct. 26, when top federal prosecutors in Washington state sent Secretary of State Steve Hobbs a list of roughly 400 voters they suspected of being noncitizens who had voted in past elections. The prosecutors urged that any ballots cast by those individuals not be counted "until citizenship can be determined," according to reporting by Politico cited by the Election Law Blog.

Hobbs, a Democrat, pushed back. He said the federal list included U.S. citizens and lacked adequate evidence to prove any voter's status. "If the DOJ has identified noncitizen voters on our voter roll, they should provide us with accurate and complete information so we can investigate according to state and federal law," Hobbs said in a statement Thursday evening, as reported by the Washington State Standard. "Eligible voters should not be disenfranchised because of unsupported allegations."

Whitehead found that the administration had likely exceeded its legal authority by trying to force state officials to interfere with the ballot-counting process. The judge further found that federal law barring noncitizen voting does not give the government control over state election procedures, according to Democracy Docket's account of the ruling.

In his written order, Whitehead drew a clear line. "For the next two weeks, while Washington's counties count and certify the ballots already cast, DOJ may not demand that election officials set aside a registered voter's ballot because the voter's name appears on a federal list and may not threaten those officials with prosecution for counting votes as state law requires," he wrote, as quoted by the Washington State Standard.

The restraining order doesn't stop federal prosecutors from pursuing charges against anyone found to have voted unlawfully. A hearing on whether to extend the order beyond two weeks is scheduled for later this month. Washington counties must certify results by Nov. 24; Hobbs is required to certify the statewide results by Dec. 3.

The ruling follows a similar rejection by the U.S. Supreme Court of a comparable DOJ push in California, which was consistent with a federal appeals court decision covering Washington and other western states, according to reporting from the Washington State Standard.

Justice Department spokesperson Kiersten Pels said in an email Friday that the department was reviewing the order and evaluating its next steps. "A temporary restraining order is not a final ruling on the merits, and the Department will continue to defend its authority to work with states to ensure that voter rolls comply with federal law," Pels said, as reported by the Washington State Standard.

Sources cited:
- Democracy Docket (https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/federal-judge-blocks-trump-doj-from-interfering-with-washington-states-elections-ballot-counting/)
- Washington State Standard (https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2026/11/06/feds-cant-force-wa-to-set-aside-alleged-noncitizen-ballots-judge-rules/)
- Election Law Blog (https://electionlawblog.org/2026/federal-judge-orders-justice-department-to-stop-threatening-election-officials-in-washington-state/)