Democrats Sue Trump and DOJ Over Voter Roll Purge Push Weeks Before Midterms

National Democrats filed suit Tuesday in Washington against President Donald Trump and the US Justice Department, accusing the administration of running a coordinated campaign to undermine confidence in the upcoming midterm elections. The lawsuit, brought by groups including the Democratic Senate and House campaign committees, challenges Trump administration demands that states such as California and Nevada segregate tens of thousands of mail-in ballots from voters whose citizenship status is under scrutiny. Plaintiffs argue the federal data used to flag suspected noncitizens is "shoddy" and frequently inaccurate.

The Justice Department has separately sued California and 29 other states, both Democratic and Republican-led, that have refused to hand over voter roll data. The DOJ threatened to prosecute California election officials if they knowingly count ballots from roughly 20,000 people it has identified as likely noncitizens. Critics say the push to gain access to protected voter data and purge voter rolls is designed to cause chaos and erode public trust ahead of the vote.

Elsewhere on the political calendar, Trump moved to shore up support among midterm voters worried about high prices, announcing an $8 billion bailout package for farmers. He also launched a whistleblower cash-prize program, awarding the first payment to conservative online influencer Nick Shirley for uncovering alleged fraud in federal government programs. Meanwhile, Trump aides are preparing financial penalties on Americans in default on federal student loans but are unlikely to announce the plan before Election Day.

On the campaign spending front, national Democrats are making a late million-dollar bet on the Florida governor's race, backing Democrat David Jolly after largely withholding major funding. In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing to resume strikes against Iran, though the Israeli military held off on an extensive operation it had planned earlier in October after Trump ruled out an attack before the US midterms.