Judge rejects DOJ bid to isolate 20,000 California ballots

Federal Judge David Carter denied the Department of Justice’s request to force California election officials to separate ballots from 20,000 individuals the administration alleged were non-citizens. The decision, issued on Wednesday evening, rejects a legal strategy that critics view as an effort to undermine confidence in the upcoming midterm election results.

The conflict began two weeks ago when the justice department delivered a USB drive to officials in Los Angeles and Sacramento. The drive contained names of voters the department claimed lacked confirmed citizenship. California has more than 23 million registered voters, and non-citizen voting is a rare occurrence. The department gave state officials only 48 hours to review the list. It warned it would sue if the state did not sequester the ballots.

Los Angeles officials conducted a preliminary review and found indicators that the list was inaccurate. The department refused to share specific details about its methodology. It filed a lawsuit on October 15 to compel the state to isolate the ballots and verify citizenship for the flagged voters.

Carter, who was nominated to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton, criticized the timing and scope of the federal intervention. He wrote that the case concerns the right of every American citizen to vote in a free and fair election. Carter noted that the federal government had never before sought to coerce a state to abandon its own constitutional election procedures on the eve of an election.

The judge argued that the executive branch was claiming sole sovereignty. He stated that California and its people are also sovereign. The ruling comes after the ninth circuit court of appeals rejected a 2-1 appeal by the justice department. The department had appealed Carter’s October 27 hearing schedule, arguing he was not moving the case quickly enough.

The department has also threatened to prosecute election officials if they count ballots from non-citizens. Sam Trepel, a former justice department prosecutor, wrote in a blog post this month that such a move would lack a legal basis. Following the initial lawsuit, the administration began providing similar lists to other counties. CalMatters reported that officials found the department had flagged voters not on the rolls and provided insufficient information to verify citizenship.

Legal experts have expressed skepticism about the federal effort since it began. In July, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had identified up to 190,000 non-citizens on California voter rolls. The agency did not provide further details to the state until after ballots had already been mailed.