DOJ asks Supreme Court to sideline 20,000 California ballots

The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, Nov. 2, to order California to set aside about 20,000 mail ballots cast by people the Justice Department suspects are noncitizens, one day before the midterm elections.

The emergency application, filed by the Justice Department, seeks a limited injunction that would stop California from mixing the challenged ballots with other votes while the case continues, CBS News reported. The Associated Press, in a report carried by ABC7 Los Angeles, said the government argues the ballots should not be counted until the voters’ status can be verified.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the filing that the government seeks a “modest remedy” to ensure ballots cast by noncitizens do not “debase or dilute valid votes,” CBS reported. “Once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back,” Sauer wrote.

California had returned more than 6 million mail ballots as of Sunday, according to the secretary of state’s office, as cited by CBS. AP reported that about 23 million registered voters in the state were mailed ballots and that hundreds of thousands had already been processed.

The request follows two defeats in lower courts. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, appointed by President Bill Clinton, rejected the department’s request for a temporary restraining order last week. “Constitutional rights and our democracy are at stake. The public interest favors their protection,” Carter said, according to CBS. AP quoted him as saying: “If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger.”

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals then divided 2-1 on Friday in declining to intervene, CBS reported.

The department’s list names more than 20,000 registered California voters it believes are not citizens. California officials have said the list is highly unreliable and likely includes many people who are U.S. citizens, AP reported. Neither report quoted a named state official in response to the Supreme Court filing.

The department first sued California and the Los Angeles County registrar in October. Canada News Media reported on that lawsuit in its Oct. 17 story on the Justice Department suit, in which state officials said no evidence had been provided.

The filing adds to a run of election cases before the justices in recent weeks. Our explainer on the Supreme Court rulings that set midterm rules covers four earlier decisions on redistricting, party spending and mail ballots. AP reported that the justices previously rejected the president’s push to restrict mail ballots ahead of the midterms.

Neither report gave a case name, docket number, assigned justice or response deadline. A ruling had not been reported as of Monday afternoon, and Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. California’s ballots are counted over the days and weeks after the vote.

Via CBS News and The Associated Press.

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