Judge Rejects Trump Administration's Request to Segregate Mail-In Ballots in California

U.S. District Judge David Carter refused a request from the Justice Department to separate roughly 20,000 mail-in ballots in California that the department says are likely cast by non-citizens. Carter wrote that the request “violates longstanding constitutional principles mandating that states have control over their elections” and warned that granting it could create chaos and a chilling effect on election workers and voters.

The Justice Department filed the lawsuit on Oct. 15, seeking an order that the state “set aside vote-by-mail ballots from persons identified by the Federal Government likely to be noncitizens” until their citizenship could be confirmed. The department said it had compiled a list of over 20,000 names it believes are likely non-citizens.

California attorneys challenged the reliability of the list. Christina McCall, representing the state, called the government’s allegations “vague” and “not reliable,” while Anne Bellows said the request was “a recipe for disenfranchisement.”

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli told the judge that the government was not telling California what to do, but what it could not do, emphasizing that the state must act on potential non-citizen registrations. Carter responded that if the government believes illegal voting has occurred, it should use its prosecutorial powers, noting recent indictments and urging the department to bring further charges.

The Justice Department had previously appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which held an emergency hearing and ruled against the administration, finding it lacked jurisdiction and that the claimed emergency was partly self-constructed. Circuit Judge Mark Bennett noted the delay stemmed from the United States’ own filing timeline, and Judge Gabriel Sanchez warned that the request would upend state authority over elections. The dissenting judge, Trump appointee Patrick Bumatay, argued that federal law should preclude California from mixing ballots likely cast by aliens with legitimate ballots.