Judge Rejects Bid to Segregate 20,000 California Ballots

A federal judge has turned aside a last-minute Justice Department effort to halt the counting of mail ballots from more than 20,000 suspected noncitizens in California, ruling that such an order would throw the ongoing election into chaos and undermine the rights of citizens who have already cast ballots. U.S. District Judge David Carter issued the decision late Wednesday after a hearing in Los Angeles, emphasizing that the election process was already well underway with millions of votes processed.

The ruling came in response to a request for a temporary restraining order that would have required California officials to segregate and stop processing those ballots. Carter wrote that granting the request “would wreak havoc and disrupt the election that is already underway, create a chilling effect on election workers and voters alike, and discount the votes of United States citizens.” More than 3.7 million Californians have voted so far, with over 500,000 ballots already extracted from envelopes and entering the tabulation stage, according to court records. The state mails ballots to all 23 million registered voters.

The Justice Department quickly appealed the decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli stated on social media that the department would seek an emergency order from the appeals court, arguing that continued counting “disenfranchises American citizens through dilution.” The case stems from concerns over the presence of suspected noncitizens on voter rolls, an issue that has drawn sharp exchanges between state officials and federal prosecutors appointed during the Trump administration.

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office has pushed back against the federal intervention, describing it as an unnecessary intrusion into state election administration at a critical moment. State election officials maintain that they follow federal and state laws requiring citizenship for registration and that any errors are addressed through existing verification processes. The DOJ’s filing highlighted lists of individuals flagged as potential noncitizens, yet the judge determined that halting ballot processing now would inflict broader damage on the integrity of the count.

Critics of the federal move argue that the timing of the request, filed while voting is already underway, risks amplifying unfounded doubts about the election’s legitimacy rather than resolving them through orderly channels. Legal observers note that courts have historically been reluctant to issue broad injunctions once ballots begin to be cast and processed, precisely to avoid the kind of voter confusion and administrative disruption that Carter described. The appeal now shifts the focus to the Ninth Circuit, where a panel will decide whether to grant emergency relief.

For voters and election workers in California, the immediate effect of the ruling is that counting proceeds without interruption. The state continues to process the large volume of mail ballots returned in the final days before Election Day. Both sides in the litigation have indicated they will continue pressing their positions, setting the stage for further rulings that could shape how similar challenges are handled in future contests. The episode underscores the tension between federal oversight of election laws and the practical demands of running a statewide vote already in motion.