Judge partly blocks Trump order seeking to overhaul US elections

WASHINGTON: A federal judge on Thursday blocked parts of President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to impose new rules on U.S. elections, which Democrats and other groups said risked denying eligible citizens the right to vote.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the Trump administration cannot enforce parts of the order requiring federal election officials to assess whether people who are registering to vote are citizens.

She declined, however, to block parts of the order that sought to force states not to count mail-in ballots received after election day. The ruling came in response to lawsuits by groups including the Democratic National Committee, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the League of Women’s Education Fund.