Judge rejects Justice Department bid to set aside California ballots

A federal judge Wednesday rejected a request to force California to set aside ballots from thousands of voters who the Justice Department suspects are noncitizens, delivering the agency a blow in the case for the second time in three days.

The Justice Department’s push to prevent the counting of ballots from any of more than 20,000 people on its list is unusual, and courts have been skeptical so far.

The department filed its lawsuit this month, and when U.S. District Judge David O. Carter in Los Angeles did not immediately rule on its request, it asked an appeals court to take up the matter. In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on Monday said it didn’t have the power to act at this early stage and sent the case back to Carter.

Carter, who was appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton, heard arguments in the case Tuesday for three hours. On Wednesday, he refused to issue a temporary restraining order that would have required ballots to be set aside.

“This request violates longstanding constitutional principles mandating that states have control over their elections,” Carter wrote. “If Plaintiff’s last-minute request for relief were granted, either party could create chaos for their own political purposes to disrupt the election process. Over 20,000 registered Californians would potentially lose the right that generations of Americans have fought to preserve.”

The Justice Department’s request would prevent some eligible voters from having their ballots counted and would probably violate the Voting Rights Act, the Civil Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act, he wrote.

The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal soon after Carter issued his decision.

California mails ballots to all registered voters, but it’s unknown how many people on the Justice Department’s list were sent ballots and how many have turned them in to be counted.

State and county election officials have said the Justice Department’s data is faulty and includes many people who are not registered to vote and have not been sent ballots. It also includes people who appear to be U.S. citizens and are eligible to vote, they say.

Justice Department attorneys have said they are confident in their findings, saying the Department of Homeland Security vetted the list by examining passport, immigration and Social Security data. They wanted Carter to order the ballots to be set aside right away so they wouldn’t be counted, which they argued would dilute the value of legitimate votes.

“Every day, more ballots are processed by election officials,” Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said in a social media post announcing the appeal. “This ongoing emergency disenfranchises American citizens through dilution.”