Five days before the Nov. 3 midterms the Justice Department is pressing two fights over the vote at once. Federal prosecutors have sent fresh grand jury subpoenas in Alaska's tight Senate race while all four U.S. attorneys in California have ordered election staff to hand over records and testify.

In Los Angeles County employees of the Registrar-Recorder's office were told to appear before a grand jury on Nov. 4, the day after the election. The subpoenas seek papers tied to federal letters sent in July and October about voters the department says are not citizens.

Registrar Dean Logan pushed back on the move. He said threats and intimidation have no place in the running of elections and that his office will keep counting every lawful ballot.

A judge brings in a referee

The subpoenas landed soon after U.S. District Judge David O. Carter named a special master, Daniel B. Garrie, to examine the department's list of roughly 20,000 people it calls noncitizen voters. California has about 23 million registered voters. Both sides now agree the list includes people who are in fact citizens.

Carter refused the department's request to set aside ballots cast by people on the list. He pointed to a federal rule that bars large purges of voter rolls in the 90 days before an election. He also noted that Los Angeles County alone has already processed more than 500,000 ballots.

The judge set an evidentiary hearing for Nov. 13. Counties must certify their results by Dec. 3. The department has asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for a quick ruling.

The Alaska name fight

In Alaska the new subpoenas target Democratic officials linked to the recruitment of a candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan, who shares a name with Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan. The grand jury activity followed a newspaper report on how that candidate got onto the ballot.

The campaign of Democrat Mary Peltola, who is challenging the senator, denies any wrongdoing. So does the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. No one has been charged. The subpoenas cite federal civil rights laws against conspiring to deprive people of their rights.

Prosecutors have also widened a civil suit over the race with a new claim calling the name overlap a conspiracy. The department has said it knows of no voter who picked the wrong Sullivan by mistake.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered the state Department of Public Safety to open its own investigation. Early voting is underway in both states.