WASHINGTON, D.C. — Attorney General Todd Blanche refused to rule out DOJ intervention to stop states from certifying midterm election results, according to a new report in The Hill. When reporters asked him on Thursday about the possibility, Blanche said there are hypothetical scenarios where the department could try to block vote certification.
The same day, his Justice Department went to court to try to do exactly that. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, DOJ asked a federal judge to bar Alaska from certifying its Senate race results if Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses by fewer votes than a same-named candidate on the ballot receives, according to The Washington Post.
The Justice Department has no legal authority to do this. Private citizens and candidates can sue to challenge ballots or results, but no U.S. law gives DOJ the power to challenge ballots or delay certification. DOJ’s own Justice Manual directs the department to avoid interfering, or appearing to interfere, with election administration, tabulation, validation, or certification. Blanche made these comments weeks after he announced plans to send 1,000 DOJ election monitors to polling places in every state on Election Day.
With less than two weeks until the midterms, the nation’s top law enforcement officer still won’t commit to letting states certify their own elections.
“Todd Blanche just told the American people he may attempt to block their votes from being certified,” said Lisa Gilbert, Not Above the Law co-chair. “This desperate and absurd attempt to undermine Americans’ voting rights and our elections is doomed to fail. Certifying election results is a state responsibility, and federal law gives the Justice Department no role in it. This nonsense is exactly what Americans feared when Trump installed his personal lawyer at the top of DOJ: a Justice Department that serves Trump’s interests over the will of the voters.”
Read more from The Hill:
Attorney General Todd Blanche left the door open on whether the Department of Justice (DOJ) would intervene in states’ midterm elections verification processes, telling reporters Thursday there are hypothetical “scenarios” in which it could block the certification of votes.
“Yes, of course there’s scenarios that we can all come up with hypothetically, you know, some doomsday scenario for example, right?” he said. “So, I don’t think it’s proper to make any kind of conclusory statements about what’s going to happen in the future, because I have no idea what’s happening in the future.” […]
Blanche said earlier this month the DOJ plans to send 1,000 election monitors to polling places in every state on Election Day. At the time, he told Fox News anchor Shannon Bream the department’s presence would serve to ensure federal law is properly enforced, adding the government has been monitoring elections since the 1960s.
Read the full article here.
The Not Above the Law coalition is co-chaired by Lisa Gilbert, Co-President of Public Citizen; Praveen Fernandes, Vice President of the Constitutional Accountability Center; Kelsey Herbert, Campaign Director at MoveOn; and Brett Edkins, Managing Director for Policy and Political Affairs at Stand Up America.
For questions about our work to hold Trump accountable or to request an interview with a Not Above the Law coalition leader, please email press@focalpointstrategygroup.com.