When major news breaks on President Donald Trump\u2019s relentless crusade to suppress midterm voting, we don\u2019t just cover it. We surround it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Late Monday, we learned that the Department of Justice (DOJ) had sent a letter<\/a> to California election officials, threatening a lawsuit if the state counted ballots from voters on a list the administration created of alleged noncitizens.<\/p>\n Forty-eight hours later, DOJ followed through on that threat.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then it ramped things up further, sending a new letter warning that election officials could face criminal prosecution if they fail to comply.<\/p>\n Trump has been working to undermine the midterms since he regained office. But the California story takes us one key step further into the abyss \u2014 with the administration now not just asserting control over voter registration lists but actively seeking to block the counting of live ballots.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 13 separate news stories we\u2019ve published since this episode began bring home that dangerous escalation. They also make clear the stunning flimsiness of the evidence behind the campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n Here are some of the most important:<\/p>\n \u2022 Yunior Rivas explained<\/a> how DOJ cited no clear legal authority in its initial demand to California.<\/p>\n \u2022 Alexandra Hutzler noted<\/a> how, in a separate lawsuit seeking documents on administration plans to meddle in the midterms, Democrats ominously warned that the California effort raises the threat of \u201cwarrant-based ballot seizure\u201d this fall.<\/p>\n \u2022 After DOJ filed suit Thursday, Yunior reported<\/a> that it had given California just 48 hours to verify around 20,000 names \u2014 meaning the state would have had to check roughly 417 voters per hour to comply.<\/p>\n \u2022 Natalie Note brought news<\/a> of the defiant response from California Secretary of State Shirley Weber (D). \u201cI will not disenfranchise thousands of Californians \u2014 or order any county elections official to do so \u2014 based solely upon an unsupported and likely inaccurate \u2018belie[f]\u2019 that certain voters are \u2018likely\u2019 noncitizens,\u201d Weber wrote to DOJ.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u2022 Yunior looked at<\/a> the responses to the news from voting experts and advocates, who confirmed that the attack on California takes the administration\u2019s anti-voting campaign into dangerous new territory, and warned that it could lay the groundwork for post-election challenges.<\/p>\n \u2022 Alexandra reported<\/a> on a pro-democracy group\u2019s new legal claim that the effort against California violates a recent court order barring DOJ from using state voter roll data.<\/p>\n \u2022 Ajani Stella flagged<\/a> that some of the voters on the administration\u2019s list don\u2019t even live in Los Angeles County, which was sued along with California. That means the county is being asked to withhold ballots from voters outside its jurisdiction.<\/p>\n \u2022 Yunior told us<\/a> about a threatening new letter from a top DOJ official warning California election officials that if they do count the votes of the people on the list, without verifying their citizenship, they could be \u00a0\u201caiders and abettors to a federal crime.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 Jacob Knutson followed up<\/a> with Trump\u2019s even less subtle threat. \u201cThey will all go to jail,\u201d the president wrote on social media.<\/p>\n \u2022 Yunior zeroed in on<\/a> the role of Trent McCotter, the DOJ official who sent that threat to prosecute, and has played an important broader role in this week\u2019s attack on California.<\/p>\n \u2022 And Yunior explained<\/a> that the new attack is far from the first time Trump has targeted the Golden State \u2014 which is now ground zero in his bid to rig the midterms.<\/p>\n \u2022 Oh and this must-watch Instagram reel<\/a> from Video Journalist Emily Gross breaks it all down for you.<\/p>\n Of course, we saw plenty<\/a> of other<\/a> crucial<\/a> developments this week in the fight to protect free and fair midterm elections.\u00a0<\/p>\n But the California news stands out for what it may augur for Election Day and afterwards. That\u2019s why we covered it from every angle.\u00a0<\/p>\n And you can bet this saga isn\u2019t ending any time soon. Which is why, as Election Day approaches, we\u2019ll keep bringing you every twist and turn.<\/p>\n \t\t