Federal Judge Blocks DOJ Effort to Halt California Ballot Count

U.S. District Judge David Carter denied the Department of Justice an emergency request to halt the processing of California ballots for 20,000 voters. The ruling, issued Wednesday evening, allows state and local officials to continue counting votes as the midterm election approaches. Carter, a Clinton appointee, rejected the federal government's bid for a temporary restraining order.

The Justice Department argues that these 20,000 individuals are likely noncitizens. Federal officials claim that votes from noncitizens dilute the power of U.S. citizens. The department filed its lawsuit on Oct. 15, citing urgency because mail ballots are already being processed. Once signatures on returned envelopes are verified, the ballots are separated for confidentiality. The DOJ contends this makes it impossible to retrieve ineligible votes later.

California state and local officials counter that the federal list is unreliable. They argue that stopping the count days before Election Day is unlawful and infeasible. A preliminary analysis by Los Angeles County found that many people on the DOJ list do not have active voter registrations. Officials warn that segregating ballots now would disenfranchise eligible voters and create chaos in the counting process.

In his 26-page order, Carter expressed concern about the potential harm to eligible voters. He noted that once a vote is segregated, lasting damage occurs. The judge stated that if the executive branch can discount votes based on unproven allegations, the democracy faces danger. Carter wrote that the federal government has never before sought to coerce a state to abandon its constitutional election procedures on the eve of an election.

State Attorney General Rob Bonta supported the denial in recent court filings. Bonta described the litigation as a precursor to further interference in California. He urged the court to avoid a chilling degradation of democratic values. The DOJ is expected to appeal the decision, potentially sending the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The dispute over the accuracy of the list remains central to the case. A Los Angeles County analysis of a small sample found a significant portion of the listed individuals recorded U.S. birthplaces. Nicolas Bartell, a senior official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, contested this in court filings. His office’s review found none of those specific individuals were U.S.-born, though four might have a claim to citizenship. Bartell also detailed the federal methodology for creating the list.

Kassra Oskooi, a political scientist at the University of Delaware, responded to the USCIS methodology in his own declaration. Oskooi, serving as an expert witness for voting rights groups, believes the USCIS matching protocol is likely unreliable. The groups are intervening in the case to support the state’s position.

Federal actions in other states mirror the California lawsuit. On Monday, prosecutors asked Washington state officials to review a list of 400 registered voters. Last week, the DOJ filed a lawsuit in Alaska seeking to stop the state from certifying its Senate race results if a Republican incumbent loses to a longshot candidate with a similar name. The department has charged dozens of people in the last two months for registering or voting without being U.S. citizens.

The next step involves the Justice Department filing an appeal against Carter’s denial. The case may move through the federal circuit courts before reaching the Supreme Court. In the meantime, California continues its ballot processing schedule as Election Day nears.