The Justice Department under Trump breaks decades of precedent by intervening in midterm elections in advance

Odaily reports: The U.S. Department of Justice under President Donald Trump is intervening in Tuesday's midterm elections in an unprecedented manner, directly inserting itself into election disputes through lawsuits and criminal investigations before ballots have been counted and results certified.

This approach breaks the Justice Department's decades-long tradition of avoiding the appearance of using law enforcement power to help a particular party or candidate, and has raised concerns that the government may use it to influence election outcomes.

In California, the Justice Department has asked a court to exclude approximately 20,000 voters' mail-in ballots on the grounds that these voters may not be U.S. citizens and therefore are not eligible to vote. The Justice Department has also demanded that state authorities provide relevant records to cooperate with a criminal investigation. California officials said they have already taken measures to prevent non-citizens from voting and argued that the Justice Department has no authority to block these ballots from being counted.

As of now, courts have dismissed the Justice Department's related lawsuits against California and Alaska, but the Justice Department has appealed the ruling in the Alaska case. These cases highlight the Justice Department's willingness to intervene in election disputes before ballots are counted and results are certified.