Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday declined to rule out the possibility that the Justice Department could try to block states from certifying the results of next month’s midterm elections, telling reporters there are “scenarios” in which it could happen, even as he insisted that is not the department’s intention.
The remarks came in Norfolk, Virginia, where Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel held a press conference announcing federal charges against Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas. Before boarding a plane, Blanche was asked directly whether there was any scenario in which the Justice Department would weigh in on the certification process or try to block states from certifying, according to NBC News and The Daily Beast.
“Is there any scenario? Yes”
“I mean, is there any scenario? Yes,” Blanche said, according to The Daily Beast. “Of course, there’s scenarios that we could all come up with hypothetically, and you know some doomsday scenario, for example, right?”
He added that he did not think it was “proper to make any kind of conclusory statements about what’s going to happen in the future.”
“It is not DOJ’s intention to, and it’s never our intention to, improperly interfere with elections or the state confirmation process or certification process,” Blanche said, as quoted by NBC News. “To say that there’s no circumstances that we would ever do that … of course, I’m not going to say that. But am I planning my days around the election to be somewhere to not certify? Of course not.”
The federal government has no role in certification
The comments raised immediate alarm because certification is not the Justice Department’s job. U.S. elections are run by state and local officials, who are charged with certifying results. As NBC News noted, the department’s role in elections is limited by law, chiefly to safeguarding civil rights and prosecuting individuals who break election laws, and there are no U.S. laws that say the Justice Department can challenge ballots or delay certification. Private citizens and candidates can sue to challenge results, but that is a separate process.
Part of a broader push ahead of Nov. 3
Blanche’s answer comes less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterms and in the middle of a broader Trump administration campaign focused on noncitizen voting, which election experts say is rare. NBC News reported this week that the Justice Department is weighing more election-related litigation against states, after it sued California to compel officials to review 18,000 registered voters it suspected could be noncitizens. California is one of several states that automatically mail ballots to voters.
It is also not the first time a top administration official has hedged on this question. Days earlier, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon told CBS News that “absent some shocking contingency that is unexpected, there should be no interruption in the usual course of counting and certifying the results in the states,” according to Raw Story. During his July confirmation hearing, Blanche also drew criticism for declining to commit to keeping immigration agents away from polling places, Democracy Docket reported.
The Washington Post reported this week that a group of national security officials has been advising state governments and members of Congress on how to prepare for a scenario in which the administration tries to interfere in the midterms, according to The Daily Beast.
What it means for voters
Voting and legal experts, including those at the Brennan Center, have repeatedly said voters should still cast their ballots with confidence, noting that efforts to undermine elections so far have failed. But with early voting already underway in many states, the country’s top law enforcement officer refusing to close the door on federal interference in certification is likely to keep that question front and center through Election Day.