The Department of Justice under Donald Trump is threatening election workers to force them to put Trump's election changes into effect.

Posted by Letters from an American, Sep 13, 2026Checked Nov 2, 2026

Polygraph verdictTrue

Sources: 8 support1 context
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 65%

Letters from an AmericanSep 13, 2026

… weeks, leaving the country vulnerable, Trump’s plan to use the US Postal Service to screen mailed-in votes is being tested in Florida, and shows what will likely happen if the Supreme Court lifts its injunction blocking the USPS from implementing new rules, The DOJ under Trump is threatening, without cause, election workers, using harassment and intimidation to force them to put Trump’s election changes into effect, Luttig urged Republicans to decide not to betray their oaths of office and the country, and wrote that the Republican Party must “loose the chains of its political and moral enslavement to Donald Trump and separate itself from the MAGA political party …

18 claimsThe check →

Multiple tier-1 and tier-2 sources report that a federal judge found the DOJ and DHS were threatening state and local election officials with criminal prosecution to force them to set aside or stop processing ballots tied to the administration's noncitizen-voting demands, and ordered the threats stopped.

This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.

What we found

Supports. A federal judge ordered the Justice Department to stop threatening state and local election officials with criminal prosecution over their handling of ballots and voter-qualification disputes, finding the campaign was likely interfering with lawful administration of the midterms.[1][3][6]

Supports. The threats were tied to demands that officials set aside or stop processing ballots of about 20,000 people the administration alleged may be noncitizens, with DHS officials delivering letters threatening criminal charges if counties did not sequester the ballots.[2][4]

Supports. Reporting describes the administration's election-related demands, including voter-roll removals and ballot segregation, as a campaign to push states into the administration's preferred election procedures, which matches the claim's 'force them to put election changes into effect' framing.[3][5][7][8]

Context. The Trump administration appealed the order, and a federal appeals court rejected the DOJ's request for California to set aside disputed ballots, so the restraint is contested but not reversed as of the sources.[2][5]

Context. The sources do not directly cover threats during the September 13 period; the documented threats cluster in October, and the claim's 'without cause' characterization is the judge's and plaintiffs' view rather than a neutral finding.[8][9]