Court Orders California to Respond to DOJ on Mail-In Ballots

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has directed California to respond by Saturday to an urgent request from the Trump administration. This request involves approximately 20,000 mail-in ballots sent to individuals the Justice Department questions about their citizenship status ahead of the midterm elections.

Late Friday, the appeals court responded to the DOJ’s emergency plea filed earlier that day. U.S. District Judge David Carter had not issued a decision by the previously set deadline, prompting the Justice Department’s appeal for immediate action.

The DOJ seeks to have California election officials set aside the ballots suspected to be linked with noncitizens until their eligibility is confirmed. This request aims to prevent these ballots from being counted alongside other votes. According to Attorney General Todd Blanche, the urgency of this matter lies in the potential for untraceable voter disenfranchisement and vote dilution.

The filing emphasized, “Every minute of processing without segregating these ballots results in untraceable disenfranchisement.”

Though the Ninth Circuit’s order is in effect, a hearing with Judge Carter is set for Tuesday. It remains uncertain if the appeals court will make a ruling before this hearing takes place.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli has claimed that evidence supports the DOJ’s assertion that 20,000 individuals received mail-in ballots in October. His office recently filed a lawsuit to stop the counting of ballots from these individuals. Essayli stressed the need to simply sequester ballots from suspected noncitizens, estimating a minimum of 20,000 affected ballots.

Essayli confronted California Gov. Gavin Newsom over the state’s method of handling noncitizen voters, condemning what he sees as weak verification of citizenship. Gov. Newsom maintained that California’s election procedures are legal and secure.

California election authorities have dismissed the DOJ’s demands, citing that county election offices lack the power and resources to verify voters’ citizenship through federal records. They noted that separating ballots related to DOJ’s list becomes challenging once the ballots are processed, as they are mixed with others after signature verification.

Officials indicate that in Los Angeles County alone, more than 331,000 ballots have already been processed.

This issue arose after Essayli’s office initially filed the legal challenge on October 15, shortly after California distributed voting ballots.