DOJ asks Supreme Court to halt processing of specific California ballots
The Justice Department claims 20,000 noncitizens are on the voter roll, a figure courts have disputed as unreliable.
By John Price ·
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a notice on Monday seeking emergency intervention from the Supreme Court. The administration wants the high court to order California to stop processing the ballots of specific registered voters. The filing arrived one day before Election Day.
The legal battle began when the DOJ identified 20,000 names on the state voter roll that it labels as likely noncitizens. The department argued these ballots should be set aside until citizenship is verified. A federal judge and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals both rejected the lower court requests, siding with California and Los Angeles County.
Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee, called the federal action a broad pattern of attempted election interference. A divided 9th Circuit panel followed on Friday. Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez wrote that there is a material risk the federal relief would disenfranchise voters. They cited the Purcell principle, which discourages changing election rules on the eve of a vote.
The majority opinion also pointed to the National Voter Registration Act. That law prevents states from systematically removing ineligible voters within 90 days of a federal election. Patrick Bumatay, the panel’s third judge, dissented from that decision.
County election officials dispute the size of the problem. They say many people on the DOJ list do not have active registrations and were not mailed ballots. UCLA Voting Rights Project analysts gained access to the list through a separate court order. Their data shows 42% of the names do not appear on California’s current voter roll. The analysis also found naturalized citizens on the federal list.
The Justice Department has escalated its conflict with California officials in recent weeks. The department sent subpoenas to local election officers. It also reminded officials that they face criminal prosecution for allowing ineligible voters to cast ballots.
A federal judge in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order late Friday. That order bars the Trump administration from threatening or coercing election officials over the disputed ballots. The government has appealed that specific order as well.
Source: WOI
