The DOJ Warns California Ballot Handlers About Prosecution

The Trump administration is escalating its fight with California ahead of next month's midterm election, warning that local officials who process and tabulate ballots submitted by suspected noncitizen voters risk criminal investigation and potential prosecution, PBS NewsHour reports.

The shape of the warning matters as much as its content. It is aimed at election administrators — the people who handle and count ballots — rather than at voters, which puts pressure on the machinery of the election rather than on individual ballots. And the category it names is suspected noncitizens, not people who have been found to be ineligible. In a warning about criminal exposure, "suspected" is doing a lot of quiet work.