A federal judge in Los Angeles on Wednesday turned down the Trump administration's request to have California election officials separate about 20,000 ballots cast by people the federal government says may not be citizens.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter of the Central District of California said granting the request would violate "longstanding constitutional principles mandating that states have control over their elections," CalMatters reported. He wrote that "once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred," and described what he called "a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference" by the administration.
Carter also questioned how the list was built. He noted that people flagged as noncitizens by the federal government in other states have repeatedly turned out to be naturalized citizens, and he said prosecutors had been vague about how the 20,000 names were assembled, according to CalMatters.
Court filings show the Department of Homeland Security started from a public California voter roll and "enhanced" it using the research service LexisNexis, States Newsroom reported.
What each side says
Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, has said the government wanted the ballots kept apart, "not to cancel any vote," and he said the government will appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court. Federal officials say the list is mostly accurate, though prosecutors have acknowledged some people on it are likely citizens.
At Tuesday's hearing, Essayli told the court that election officials could face criminal liability if they knowingly count a noncitizen's ballot, a remark Carter answered by saying any threats to state and county election employees should "cease immediately," States Newsroom reported.
Attorney General Rob Bonta called the case "amateur hour." State and county officials and civil rights groups say the list is full of errors and often lacks the Social Security and driver's license numbers needed to confirm who a voter is.