by Winston Wendell
October 20, 2026
With voting underway in the Tuesday midterm election, the DOJ is waging a far-reaching prosecution of people accused of illegally voting — drawing sharp criticism that the Trump administration is weaponizing the federal courts against voters.
According to the Associated Press, The New York Times, and NPR, federal prosecutors have just charged 28 people in California with voting-related crimes. The DOJ said it has charged 113 people in 20 states with illegal voting or registration within the past seven weeks.
Media outlets regularly report there is virtually no evidence of rampant noncitizen voting — not to mention President Trump’s infamous exaggerations about voter fraud — many believe the timing and scope of these announcements are politically motivated.
The timing, as voting begins, has been widely condemned as a cynical attempt to intimidate voters by Washington. Civil rights groups say it’s a scare tactic to frighten immigrants and others into staying home on Election Day. Moreover, they say, it plays into a Republican Party narrative to throw out the results of a closely contested election.
President Trump and his allies are seeking to stoke the fires of prejudice against immigrants and minorities.
Many reports have shown that noncitizen voting is extremely rare.
However, with the DOJ aggressively pursuing charges, that perception is being changed — at least for the purposes of an ongoing political campaign.
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