Judge Rejects Bid to Segregate 20,000 California Ballots

A federal judge has blocked the Justice Department from ordering California to set aside mail ballots cast by more than 20,000 people the government suspects are noncitizens. The ruling, issued late Wednesday by U.S. District Judge David Carter in Los Angeles, leaves those ballots in the count while an election already in progress continues.

Carter wrote that granting the temporary restraining order would disrupt voting, create a chilling effect on election workers and voters, and risk discounting valid ballots from U.S. citizens. More than 3.7 million Californians have already voted, with over 500,000 ballots processed this week, according to court filings. Once ballots are mixed, officials in Los Angeles County stated it would be impossible to identify which ones came from the disputed registrations.

The Justice Department had sought to sequester the ballots after comparing voter rolls against federal immigration, Social Security, and passport records. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the data showed 20,000 suspected noncitizens on the rolls and that continued counting dilutes the votes of citizens. The department appealed immediately to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. California countered that the government relied on suspect data and that states retain primary control over election administration.

Carter, appointed by President Bill Clinton, noted that the federal government had not shown why counting the ballots would prevent later prosecutions. President Trump has repeatedly stated that noncitizen voting occurs on a significant scale and that states are not doing enough to prevent it. A similar Justice Department letter was sent this week to Washington state regarding 400 voters.

The case arrives weeks before the November midterms, during which federal authorities have charged individuals in multiple states with illegal voting. No independent verification of the 20,000 figure has been reported by other outlets, and the data remain subject to ongoing litigation.