The scurrilous campaign by Republican lawmakers in a number of states to disenfranchise qualified voters suffered another setback this week, when a federal judge ordered North Dakota to halt voter identification restrictions he said were blocking thousands of American Indians from exercising their right to vote.

In blocking the 2013 law, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Hovland noted that voter fraud — Republican politicians' widely disproven rationale for tougher ID requirements — was "virtually nonexistent" in the state. He ordered the state to return to "safety net" protections used effectively for years at the polls, including a voter's signed affidavit of eligibility and far less restrictive documentation than the narrow ID requirements of the law.

The ruling was the sixth time in recent months that federal courts rejected unfair voter restrictions enacted by Republican-controlled legislatures in thinly veiled attempts at voter suppression timed for the presidential election.

As the courts remove these crude hurdles one after another, Donald Trump has begun complaining that his presidential campaign may be facing a "rigged" outcome.

Studies have established that fraud is a minuscule factor in American elections. But Trump told the Washington Post this week: "If you don't have voter ID, you can just keep voting and voting and voting."

FROM AN EDITORIAL IN THE NEW YORK TIMES