Justice Department Drops Bid to Hold Back 20,000 California Ballots
The federal government asked a judge to dismiss its case days before a key hearing, citing the state's rapid counting of nearly 5 million remaining votes.
By Anthony Brooks ·
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion on Friday to dismiss its own lawsuit seeking to stop California from counting approximately 20,000 ballots. The federal government initially alleged that these ballots belonged to noncitizens and should be set aside until their immigration statuses were verified.
The request for dismissal comes roughly a week before a scheduled hearing where a special master was to evaluate the accuracy of the list of alleged noncitizens. It follows recent midterm election results that saw substantial losses for Republican candidates. In a filing submitted Friday evening, the Justice Department argued that the relief it sought is no longer available because the state has already mixed the challenged ballots with lawful ones.
State election officials reported that California had processed roughly 9 million ballots as of early Friday. Nearly 5 million ballots remained to be counted at that time. The original lawsuit was filed in mid-October, after ballots were sent to all 23 million registered voters in the state. Once a ballot is processed, the system completely anonymizes it.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who appointed a special master in late October, had previously denied the federal government's request to stop the count. Carter, a nominee of former President Bill Clinton, warned that separating ballots at such a late stage would risk disenfranchising citizens and could "wreak havoc" on the midterm elections. The special master was also tasked with determining if California had a viable mechanism for separating the disputed votes.
Justice Department spokesperson Kiersten Pels defended the federal position in a statement. She said California chose to protect illegal voters and refused to cooperate with the federal request. Pels stated that thousands of likely noncitizens remain on California’s voter rolls and voted in the 2026 elections.
California officials had previously described the federal list of suspected noncitizens as outdated and included legitimate voters. Top Los Angeles prosecutor Bill Essayli said the department would continue to pursue other legal remedies to ensure only eligible citizens vote. He noted that the Justice Department remains involved in litigation with immigrant and voting rights groups regarding its use of the noncitizen list.
In recent weeks, California prosecutors arrested more than 30 noncitizens accused of illegally registering to vote. Some of the individuals faced additional charges for voting in previous elections. The Justice Department said it would continue to prosecute suspected violations of election law through other legal cases.
