Federal Judge Blocks Plan to Separate 20,000 California Mail Ballots

U.S. District Judge David Carter rejected the Trump administration's legal bid to separate mail ballots from approximately 20,000 Californians.

The government alleged these individuals are not U.S. citizens. The ruling arrived less than one week before the November 3 midterm elections.

In a 26-page decision, Carter stated that the intervention conflicted with constitutional principles granting states authority over elections. He warned that the request could allow either political party to disrupt the process for political gain.

The judge noted that granting the order could deprive more than 20,000 registered voters of their rights. He described the proposed separation of ballots during voting as a major alteration of standard election procedures.

At a hearing on Tuesday, Carter questioned why prosecutors waited until before the election to act. He pointed out that returned ballot envelopes contain identifying information that could support post-election prosecutions against those who voted illegally.

The Justice Department filed suit earlier this month against California, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, and Los Angeles County election official Dean Logan. The agency had given officials 48 hours to review a list of suspected noncitizens before seeking to halt the counting of their ballots until citizenship was confirmed.

The state has more than 23 million registered voters. California officials challenged both the demand and the accuracy of the government's list. They described the lawsuit as politically motivated, aiming to undermine confidence in the state's results.

Deputy Attorney General Anne Bellows warned that the requested order would disrupt election operations. State lawyers questioned whether the government relied on outdated registration data. The administration responded that it supplements voter data through a third-party service.

Los Angeles County lawyers argued that manually checking ballot envelopes against the government's list could not be completed by the end of the election period. Only slightly more than 7,000 records on the list had county addresses. A review of 200 records found that more than half involved canceled or inactive registrations for which no ballot was mailed.

County officials added that just over 38% of the sample who reported a birthplace listed the United States. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services disputed these findings. Agency official Nicolas Bartell said an immigration records review showed none of the 200 people were born in the United States. He acknowledged that an ongoing analysis identified roughly 189 records with minor discrepancies on the larger list.

The administration also sought intervention from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday. A 2-1 ruling on Monday found Carter had not received sufficient opportunity to consider temporary relief. Carter, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, issued his final decision on Wednesday.

Justice Department lawyers argued that counting ballots cast by noncitizens could dilute citizens' votes. Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, stated the administration was not seeking to cancel ballots. Both federal and California law bar noncitizens from voting. California began mailing ballots in early October. More than 3.5 million mail ballots have been returned statewide. Los Angeles County has processed over 550,000.