Judge blocks federal move to set aside California ballots from 20,000 voters
The ruling keeps the state on track to count votes in the upcoming midterms despite a federal challenge over noncitizen registration claims.
By Kofi Costa ·
A federal judge in Los Angeles rejected a request from the Trump administration to pause the counting of ballots from up to 20,000 California voters. The move would have held those votes until officials confirmed the voters were U.S. citizens. The decision lands as the state continues to process mail-in ballots for the upcoming congressional elections.
More than 3.7 million Californians have already cast their ballots. Over 500,000 of those votes have been counted so far. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter issued the ruling on Wednesday. He warned that segregating the specific ballots now would disrupt the ongoing election. The judge noted that the state is already in the middle of a major voting process.
The federal government filed the lawsuit in mid-October. It accused California election officials of missing a 48-hour deadline to review a list of 20,000 people. The administration alleged these individuals were likely noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls. Justice Department lawyers asked the court to order the state to wait before counting those specific ballots. They also sought a quick ruling from an appeals court before a hearing scheduled for Oct. 27, but that higher court denied the request.
Judge Carter argued that sorting ballots at this late stage would force counties to create new sorting methods. This process risks disenfranchising many voters, he wrote. The judge compared the move to purging voters from rolls, a practice prohibited within 90 days of an election under the National Voting Rights Act. He stated that once a vote is segregated, lasting harm occurs.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli argued for the federal government on Tuesday. He maintained that holding the ballots would not stop them from being counted later. Essayli described the request as a way to preserve the status quo. He said the goal was to prevent what he called an infection of the election with illegal ballots.
The Justice Department has made similar requests in other states. This week, federal prosecutors in Washington state asked to sequester ballots from hundreds of suspected noncitizens. In Alaska, a lawsuit filed last week seeks to delay vote certification if the incumbent Republican Senate candidate does not win. These races will help determine which party controls Congress for the rest of the president’s term.
Carter’s order also rejected the argument that California was impeding federal enforcement efforts. The judge pointed out that federal prosecutors had already arrested 28 noncitizens who voted or registered illegally. Federal prosecutors did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday evening.
