Federal judge blocks Justice Department's effort to separate 20,000 California ballots
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
A California federal judge refused the Justice Department's emergency request to isolate about 20,000 ballots allegedly cast by non-citizens, setting up a likely appeal and fueling concerns about election integrity.
A federal judge in Los Angeles rejected the Justice Department's bid for an emergency order that would have required California to segregate about 20,000 ballots the administration said were likely cast by non-citizens. In a 26-page opinion, Judge David Carter warned that granting the request would "wreak havoc" on the ongoing midterm elections and weaken state control over election procedures.
"Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch," Carter wrote.
The judge emphasized that states have longstanding constitutional authority over elections and said separating the ballots could disenfranchise registered voters and create chaos across the process. He denied the government's request for a temporary restraining order, stating that the public interest favors protecting both voters' rights and election workers.
First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said the department would appeal the decision, noting that the district court had denied the emergency request and that the Solicitor General had authorized an immediate appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
State election officials had argued that altering ballot handling while voting was already in progress would throw the November election into disorder. The ruling comes as federal prosecutors recently charged 28 individuals in California with election-related offenses.