A federal judge has blocked a U.S. Justice Department attempt to prevent California from counting ballots from roughly 20,000 suspected noncitizens. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ruled on Wednesday that such a move would disrupt the midterm elections and potentially disenfranchise legal voters.
Judge David O. Carter's rejection of the 20,000-ballot freeze
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter denied a request from the Trump administration to stop California from processing the ballots of up to 20,000 individuals alleged to be noncitizens. According to the report, the ruling comes at a critical juncture where more than 3.7 million people in California have already cast their votes, with over 500,000 of those ballots already counted.
The U.S.. Justice Department had argued that these specific ballots needed to be sequestered to prevent the "infection" of the election with illegal votes, which they claimed would dilute the ballots of eligible citizens. however, Judge David O. Carter characterized the federal government's demand as a forceful disruption, stating that segregating ballots would require California counties to invent new sorting methods on the fly, risking the loss of legitimate votes.
The 90-day window and the National Voting Rights Act
In his ruling, Judge David O. Carter noted that the federal government's request effectively mirrored a voter purge, which would violate the National Voting Rights Act. This specific law prohibits changes to voter rolls within 90 days of an election to ensure stability and prevent last-minute disenfranchisement. The judge warned that allowing the Executive branch to discount votes based on "unproven allegations" would place American democracy in danger.
The court also dismissed the U.S. Justice Department's claim that California was impeding federal law enforcement. As the report notes, Judge David O. Carter pointed out that federal prosecutors had already demonstrated their ability to enforce election laws by arresting 28 noncitizens who had illegally registered or voted, suggesting that a blanket freeze on 20,000 ballots was an unnecessary and overreaching measure.
Parallel legal battles in Washington and Alaska
The legal challenge in California is part of a broader strategy by the Trump administration to increase federal oversight of state-run elections. The U.S. Justice Department has filed a similar request in Washington state, seeking to sequester ballots from hundreds of suspected noncitizens. These moves are particularly significant as both California and Washington have House or Senate races that could determine the balance of power in Congress.
Further complicating the national landscape, a lawsuit filed in Alaska seeks to delay the certification of the vote if Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan does not win. The U.S. Justice Department has sued to block Alaska's Senate results if Senator Dan Sullivan loses by a narrow margin, citing potential voter cnofusion. Together, these cases signal a concerted effort by the federal government to challenge the traditional authority of states to manage their own electoral processes.
The disputed data behind the Justice Department's list
A central point of contention remains the validity of the list used by the U.S. Justice Department to identify the 20,000 suspected noncitizens. california deputy attorney general Anne Bellows argued in court that the administration's request would strip voting rights from thousands of people until proven otherwise, while simultaneously casting doubt on the accuracy of the federal data.
Several critical questions remain unanswered. The source does not specify the origin of the data used to flag these 20,000 individuals, nor does it explain how the U.S. Justice Department determined these voters were "likely" noncitizens. Furthermore, while First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli claimed that segregating ballots would not prevent them from being counted later, the court has not yet seen a viable mechanism for how such a process could be executed without violating the National Voting Rights Act.
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