A federal judge has put the brakes on the Trump administration’s latest hunt for noncitizen voters, ruling that the Department of Homeland Security’s investigation relies on flawed data that might ensnare American citizens who have every legal right to vote, The Washington Post reports.
Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín restricted DHS from conducting certain field investigations in nine states, including interviews with people who may actually be U.S. citizens. The judge warned that the administration’s error-prone lists could leave eligible voters afraid federal investigators would wrongly target them.
Apparently, when you’re determined to hunt for a voter-fraud problem, accurate data is a rather inconvenient thing to overlook.
The lawsuit was brought by voting-rights and advocacy groups, who argued that the investigation could intimidate American citizens ahead of the midterm elections. The judge agreed that relying on deficient and admittedly flawed information to identify possible offenders provokes significant issues.
The ruling covers California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin. It is temporarily on hold until Friday to give the Trump administration time to decide whether to appeal.
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