By SAFIYAH RIDDLE, GEOFF MULVIHILL, and ALI SWENSON, Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — On Friday, a federal appeals court denied a request from the Justice Department for California to discard questioned ballots received during the midterm election, marking another setback for the Trump administration’s efforts to control state-run elections.
The administration claimed that California had sent ballots to around 20,000 individuals who might not be U.S. citizens, urging that these ballots be disregarded until citizenship verification could be completed. California officials contend that this list is highly unreliable and probably contains a significant number of U.S. citizens.
A district court judge strongly rejected this appeal on Wednesday, cautioning that the Justice Department’s demands could disenfranchise eligible voters.
“As the district court identified — and we find no clear error — it is not feasible to identify and separate the ballots of particular individuals without risking disastrous effects on the entire electoral system,” the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel stated in its 2-1 decision.
The majority opinion was authored by Judge Mark J. Bennett, appointed by President Donald Trump, and Judge Gabriel P. Sanchez, appointed by former President Joe Biden.
A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately provide a comment on the decision. However, in a statement addressing broader efforts to eliminate noncitizen voting, the department noted: “Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting. Enforcing that law is not a policy agenda. It is the Department’s responsibility.”
As millions have already participated in California’s midterm election, which concludes on Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been processed. Election officials indicated that processed votes cannot be traced back to the voters who submitted them.
In another matter, the Trump administration issued a series of subpoenas in Alaska concerning a spoiler-candidate situation. Additionally, the Justice Department has provided a list of alleged noncitizen voters to officials in Washington state.
One judge accused California of enabling illegal voting
Legal representatives for the Justice Department have indicated plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In his dissent, Judge Patrick J. Bumatay suggested that California’s refusal to separate the ballots supports the “violation of federal law.”
“California asserts it can do nothing to avert illegal voting,” wrote Bumatay, who was appointed by Trump. “That undermines the federal government’s interest in ensuring electoral integrity and preventing the dilution of legitimate votes.”
External groups gain access to the disputed list
Earlier on Friday, another federal judge mandated the Trump administration to share the contested list of names with lawyers representing the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the UCLA Voting Rights Project, who aim to analyze the list’s impact on eligible voters.
This marks the first occasion a non-governmental organization will have the chance to evaluate the validity of the list comprising approximately 20,000 names. The federal government quickly filed an appeal against the ruling on Friday evening.
The Democratic candidate for California governor, Xavier Becerra, serves as an adviser to the UCLA Voting Rights Project.
The two organizations filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security in early October to prevent it from deploying federal immigration data to challenge state voter rolls. The lawsuit highlighted instances in other states where the federal data has inaccurately included thousands of citizens. It argued that the data-matching methods pose a risk of disenfranchising or deterring citizens from voting, and it also asserted that such lists could disproportionately target naturalized citizens who are entitled to vote.
The Justice Department maintains that the risk is equally severe if the ballots are not segregated.
“Each ballot cast by an ineligible voter negates the vote of an American citizen,” Kiersten V. Pels, a spokesperson for the department, stated in an email. “The Department stands firm in its commitment to protecting those votes.”
In a separate but related ruling from the 9th Circuit Court on Friday, a panel of judges decided that federal investigations into illegal voting by noncitizens will remain suspended in nine states until after Election Day.
The judges, all appointed by Democratic presidents, determined that the aggressive and prominent investigations have caused some citizens to refrain from participating in election-related activities for fear of being wrongly targeted.
The judges concluded that investigations seeking to address allegations of illegal voting in previous elections can restart after the midterm elections end on Tuesday.
Another lawsuit aims to protect election workers
A coalition of unions also joined the rising number of groups contesting the federal government’s actions on Friday.
The unions, which include the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, are requesting a federal judge issue a temporary injunction to prevent the Justice Department from compelling local officials to stop counting ballots and from making threats of criminal prosecution against those officials who do not comply.
Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, warned that “any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen is exposing themselves to legal risks.”
