Judge orders Trump administration to stop threatening US election officials

A federal judge has ordered the federal government to stop threatening local and state election officials with criminal charges over their role in processing election ballots.

The ruling comes days before the midterm elections, which will determine which political party controls the US Congress for the last two years of Donald Trump's presidency.

Trump criticised the ruling on Saturday, writing,"Why would they reject fixing Election Fraud?"

But the groups said they could not comply with those demands because they must follow election procedures required by state and federal law. A judge weighed in and tossed the demand, writing it would "wreak havoc" in the election.

"Although Defendants claim that their actions are designed to halt unlawful voting by noncitizens, their actions are likely to have the effect of interfering with election administration and disenfranchising lawful voters," Judge Thompson wrote.

The Trump administration sent a similar letter about alleged non-citizen voters to Washington state and demanded that the secretary of state there cease processing the ballots, according to Thompson's order.

The manoeuvres are part of a yearslong campaign by Trump and his administration to fight alleged voter fraud that they believe is widespread, despite research showing that it is extremely rare.

Ahead of the midterm elections on 3 November, the president has cast doubt on the security of the vote - alleging "rampant" cheating in postal voting and non-citizens voting. The president also offered a $1m (£750,000) reward to people who report cases of voter fraud in the US which lead to a conviction.

Kaynak: BBC News World RSS (Açık Basın / Haber Servisi)