Ninth Circuit Court Blocks Justice Department Plan to Set Aside Ballots in California

A federal appeals court blocked the Justice Department from forcing California to set aside approximately 20,000 disputed ballots on Friday. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued the decision in a 2-1 vote. The ruling prevents the federal government from stopping the state from counting those votes until citizenship is verified. The decision marks the latest setback for the Trump administration's efforts to control elections administered by states.

The federal government argued that California mailed ballots to people who may not be U.S. citizens. It asked the state to separate those ballots and hold them from the count. California officials countered that the federal list is unreliable. They said it likely includes many people who are indeed U.S. citizens. A district court judge had previously rejected the request. That judge warned the demands could strip voting rights from citizens.

The appeals court agreed with the lower court's findings. Judge Mark J. Bennett, appointed by President Donald Trump, and Judge Gabriel P. Sanchez, appointed by former President Joe Biden, wrote the majority opinion. They stated there was no clear error in the district court's determination. The panel noted that identifying specific ballots without catastrophic effects on the system was not viable.

This legal battle is part of a wider federal scrutiny of local elections. The midterm elections occur on Tuesday. Millions of Californians have already cast their votes. Hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been processed. Election officials say processed votes are completely anonymized. They cannot be linked back to the specific voters who submitted them.

The Justice Department has not responded to requests for comment on the ruling. The administration continues to issue subpoenas in other states. It recently sent a list of alleged non-citizen voters to Washington state authorities. It also issued subpoenas in Alaska regarding a candidate dispute. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles argued that counting non-citizen votes dilutes the voice of citizens.

A federal judge in Washington ordered the Trump administration to share the disputed list on Friday morning. The list will be given to lawyers from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the UCLA Voting Rights Project. These groups want to examine the names and assess the impact on eligible voters. This is the first time a non-governmental organization will have the chance to evaluate the merits of the list of roughly 20,000 people.

The groups sued the Department of Homeland Security in early October. They sought to stop the agency from using federal immigration data to challenge state voter rolls. The lawsuit cited examples in other states where federal data erroneously included thousands of citizens. Plaintiffs argued the data matching methods risk disenfranchising citizens or discouraging them from voting. They also noted the lists could disproportionately target naturalized citizens.

A coalition of unions joined the legal challenges on Friday. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees asked a federal judge to block the Justice Department's demands. They want to stop the department from forcing local officials to stop counting ballots. They also seek to remove threats of criminal prosecution for officials who do not comply. Bill Essayli, the lead federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, warned that any election official who knowingly processes a non-citizen's ballot faces legal problems.

The Associated Press obtained subpoenas issued to Los Angeles County election officials on Thursday. The subpoenas request documents and communications related to letters sent in July and October. Those letters outlined accusations of non-citizen voters. Officials must also provide information on efforts to prevent non-citizen votes from being counted. At least three Los Angeles County election officials have been asked to appear before a grand jury on November 4. That date is the day after the election. It is unknown if the Justice Department intends to file criminal charges against anyone.