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Thursday, October 22, 2026

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Voting · Thursday, October 22, 2026

Judge pauses door-to-door voter checks in nine states

The File desk · Oct. 22, 2026, 6:40 a.m. ET

Confirmed1 primary sources

Status

Confirmed from a written order of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, filed Oct. 21, 2026. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín granted a preliminary injunction. The order is stayed until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026. The order does not name a time zone.
  • Confirmed
    The order blocks specified door-to-door elections work and interviews in nine states, aimed at people the government knows or should suspect are citizens.
  • Confirmed
    The order is stayed until 5:00 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, in the words of the order, which gives no time zone. It otherwise runs until Nov. 3 at 8:00 p.m., or when polls close.
A federal judge in California on Wednesday blocked the Department of Homeland Security from door-to-door voter inquiries in nine states. The order is not in effect yet. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín stayed it until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23. The order does not say which time zone that clock uses.1
The case is California Nurses Association v. Markwayne Mullin, No. 4:26-cv-10680, in the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs include the California Nurses Association, National Nurses United, the City and County of San Francisco, the County of Santa Clara and the Voto Latino Foundation. The judge enjoined elections-related field operations and field interviews in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin when they involve people the government knows, suspects, or should reasonably know or suspect are U.S. citizens. She also blocked field work in those states based wholly on records from a voter-eligibility matching policy against such people.1
The order says it relies in part on , the federal ban on intimidating or coercing a person for voting or for helping someone else vote. The order “shall remain in effect until November 3, 2026, at 8:00pm, or when polling places close on Election Day.” It then says, “This Order is STAYED until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 23, 2026.” Neither clock carries a time zone. A bond of $100 is due by 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 22, or the order is dissolved. The hearing was Oct. 19.1
Why it matters (Estimate). Estimate. If the stay lifts, federal agents cannot knock on doors in those nine states, through Election Day, to question people they should already treat as citizens about voting. Until Friday's clock, the order itself says it is paused. A reader in one of those states still needs the time zone the court did not print.
The stayed order's Friday clock is written as 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 23, 2026, with no time zone on the page.
How we know

Notes

  1. 1.U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Order Granting Preliminary Injunction, California Nurses Association, et al. v. Markwayne Mullin, et al., No. 4:26-cv-10680-AMO, Document 87, filed Oct. 21, 2026, Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.479338/gov.uscourts.cand.479338.87.0_1.pdf The order discusses , . “This order shall remain in effect until November 3, 2026, at 8:00pm, or when polling places close on Election Day.” “This Order is STAYED until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 23, 2026.” Bond of $100 by 5:00 p.m. Thursday, October 22, 2026, or the order is dissolved. Hearing date October 19, 2026. The nine states are California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Wisconsin. No time zone is printed. This desk did not convert the clocks to Eastern time.

What is still unknown or disputed

  • The time zone for 5:00 p.m. Friday and for 8:00 p.m. on Nov. 3. Not in the order.
  • Whether the government will post the $100 bond.
  • Whether a higher court will change the order before Friday.

Primary sources

Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.

  1. Source 1

    Order granting a preliminary injunction

    U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California · October 21, 2026

    The court blocked specified door-to-door elections work in nine states and stayed the order until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 23, 2026, with no time zone stated.

    https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.479338/gov.uscourts.cand.479338.87.0_1.pdf

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