A U.S. district judge ruled the federal government cannot require California to segregate ballots tied to about 20,000 voters over alleged noncitizenship concerns.
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A federal judge in Los Angeles rejected a Trump administration request to stop California from processing ballots from up to 20,000 people the federal government alleged were likely noncitizens, warning the measure would “wreak havoc” on the midterm election.
In Wednesday’s decision, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter said segregating votes at that point in the election would cause lasting harm, writing that “Eroded trust in our democracy is irreparable,” and that once a vote is segregated “lasting harm has occurred.”
Carter said the Justice Department’s request would require counties to develop new methods for sorting ballots and “risk disenfranchising an untold number of voters.” He also said the approach would have the same practical effect as purging voters and would violate the National Voting Rights Act, which prohibits changes to voter rolls within 90 days of an election.
The ruling also rejected the federal government’s argument that California was preventing enforcement of federal law. Carter noted prosecutors had previously demonstrated enforcement capability by arresting 28 noncitizens accused of voting or registering illegally.
Court filings described that California mails ballots to all 23 million registered voters, and that more than 3.7 million people had already voted in the state by the time of the ruling. They also indicated that over 500,000 ballots had already been processed by that week, meaning envelopes had been verified and ballots removed, which Los Angeles county officials testified would make it “virtually impossible” to know which ballot belonged to a particular voter.
The Justice Department said it would appeal the decision, and a prior appeal attempt to the 9th Circuit had been denied because it pre-empted the district court’s decision.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, speaking for the federal government, said on social media that the process would continue because “Every day, more ballots are processed by election officials,” which he characterized as diluting votes.
He also argued, including in earlier comments, that segregating ballots would preserve the status quo rather than prevent them from being counted later.
The case is part of a broader legal effort by the Trump administration to expand federal control over state-run elections ahead of voting that will decide control of Congress for the rest of his term.
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