DOJ Seeks Supreme Court Order to Halt 20,000 Ballots in California
The Justice Department asks the high court to intervene in a dispute over citizenship verification, a move judges have called a pattern of federal interference.
By Elena Perry ·
The Department of Justice filed a request on Monday for the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a legal battle with California over voter rolls, doing so one day before Election Day. The appeal asks the high court to order the state to set aside the ballots of thousands of voters until their citizenship is verified. This latest move marks the most direct federal challenge to state election administration in recent memory.
The Justice Department claims it has identified 20,000 likely noncitizens on California’s voter roll. Federal officials argue these ballots should not be counted until citizenship is confirmed. Lower courts have rejected that position, siding with California and Los Angeles County officials who say the federal list is unreliable. They argue that creating a new system to segregate ballots while voting is already underway is infeasible.
A divided panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied the department’s emergency request on Friday. Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez warned that granting the relief would risk disenfranchisement and jeopardize the county’s entire election. They cited the Purcell principle, which holds that election rules should not be changed on the eve of a vote. The panel also noted that the Constitution grants states authority to run elections and that federal law bars systematic removal of voters within 90 days of a federal election.
Judge Patrick Bumatay dissented from the 9th Circuit decision. Meanwhile, 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 to stop processing ballots for registered voters. The federal government has appealed that order as well.
The actual number of ballots in dispute may be lower than the 20,000 figure cited by the department. County officials found that many names on the federal list did not have active registrations or were not mailed ballots. Data scientists from the University of California Los Angeles Voting Rights Project analyzed the list after a court order granted them access. They found that 42 percent of the names do not appear on California’s current voter roll. Their analysis also identified naturalized citizens on the list.
The dispute has intensified in recent weeks. The Justice Department has sent subpoenas to California election officials and reminded them of potential criminal prosecution for allowing ineligible voters to cast ballots. Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee, described the department’s actions last week as a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference. The Supreme Court has not yet indicated whether it will hear the case or weigh in before Tuesday’s election.
