A federal judge is refusing to allow the Justice Department to intervene in California’s ongoing mail-in ballot counting, warning that the Trump administration’s request to segregate 20,000 ballots to vet voters’ citizenship would “wreak havoc and disrupt the election that is already underway.”
Federal Judge David O. Carter of the Central District of California said the administration’s attempt to question whether thousands of the state’s voters are noncitizens would violate the state’s right to run its own election and compromise decades of voting and civil rights protections.
The Justice Department had based its emergency lawsuit on what it said was a purchased list of California’s voters, matched with other government data.
“Individuals who have met the requirements of California’s voter registration laws must not be deprived of a core right merely because of unfounded allegations stemming from a procedure rife with uncertainty and errors,” Carter wrote.
The judge wrote that the administration’s request would “create a chilling effect on election workers and voters alike, and discount the votes of United States citizens.”
It is likely the Justice Department will appeal. A previous DOJ attempt to leapfrog over Carter’s court for an appellate review of the case failed earlier this week.
