DOJ petitions Supreme Court to halt California ballot processing ahead of election
The Justice Department has asked the Supreme Court for emergency relief to stop California from counting ballots of thousands it says may belong to noncitizens, a request lower courts have rejected.
The Department of Justice filed a notice on Monday seeking injunctive relief from the U.S. Supreme Court to order California to set aside and stop processing ballots of individuals the agency identifies as "likely" noncitizens. The DOJ says its list includes about 20,000 voters whose ballots should not be counted until citizenship can be verified.
Federal judges, including Judge David Carter and a divided panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, previously rejected the DOJ's request. In their Friday decision, Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez wrote that granting the relief could disenfranchise voters and jeopardize the county's election, citing the Purcell principle and the National Voter Registration Act, which restricts changes to election rules close to an election.
A third judge on the panel, Patrick Bumatay, dissented. County officials have indicated that many names on the DOJ's list do not correspond to active registrations, and a UCLA Voting Rights Project analysis found that 42% of the names were absent from California's current voter roll, though some naturalized citizens were included.
The DOJ's appeal follows recent actions against California election officials, including subpoenas and warnings of possible criminal prosecution for allowing ineligible voters to cast ballots. It remains unclear whether the Supreme Court will intervene before Election Day.