The Trump administration is using the Justice Department to push directly into the mechanics of the 2026 midterms, targeting state voter rolls, mail ballots, and even the certification of election results. So far, judges have rejected several of the most aggressive moves, but the legal campaign is already creating uncertainty around votes being cast this week. The administration’s broader election push also includes demands for unredacted voter data, executive action affecting mail voting, and claims that noncitizens are voting at a significant scale.
The clearest fight is unfolding in California. The Justice Department says it identified more than 20,000 people it considers likely noncitizens who were registered to vote and sent mail ballots. It asked the state to isolate those ballots and verify each voter’s citizenship before counting them, but a federal appeals court declined to block California from tabulating the votes. The department’s own filing describes the requested intervention in detail, including its demand that ballots be withheld while eligibility is investigated. The DOJ’s California complaint has also drawn a separate order barring threats against election workers processing the ballots.
That pressure campaign has extended beyond the courtroom. A federal judge ordered the administration to stop threatening state and local election officials with prosecution over demands to remove voters from rolls, reject particular ballots, or segregate votes based on the federal list. The ruling is significant because election administration is ordinarily handled by states and localities, while federal election law enforcement is generally designed to operate within that state-run framework.
Alaska became another test of how far the administration would go before results were known. The DOJ sought to delay certification of the Senate race if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan narrowly lost, arguing that another candidate with the same name could have confused voters. A federal judge dismissed that lawsuit on Sunday, leaving the department without the preemptive certification block it had requested.
The legal disputes trace back in part to President Donald Trump’s March executive order on election administration. The order directs the Department of Homeland Security and Social Security Administration to assemble state-by-state lists of confirmed citizens eligible to vote, while also seeking new restrictions and tracking requirements for mail and absentee ballots. The White House says the plan is intended to verify citizenship and protect election integrity, but opponents argue that federal agencies cannot take over responsibilities assigned to the states.
For voters, the immediate consequence is less a change to the ballot than a fight over whether ballots can be counted after they are cast. Courts have so far rejected the administration’s attempts to suspend California ballots and preemptively interfere with Alaska’s certification, yet the cases can continue after Election Day. That leaves the next phase focused on appeals, ballot processing, and certification—a legal aftershock that could keep the 2026 results contested even after voting ends.
