On the eve of the U.S. midterm elections, the federal administration has filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court requesting a block on more than 20,000 mail-in ballots in California over allegations that non-U.S. citizens are attempting to vote.
The U.S. Justice Department asked the nation’s highest court on Monday for a limited injunction directing California election officials to halt the commingling of suspected unlawful ballots with legal ones while voter status verification is pending. Early voting across the state has been underway since October, with hundreds of thousands of ballots already processed, leaving it uncertain whether the Supreme Court will act before polls close on Tuesday.
The administration’s push follows an initial lawsuit filed in mid-October by the Justice Department, which asserted it possesses a list documenting non-U.S. citizens on California voter rolls. That list was originally compiled by the Department of Homeland Security.
U.S. District Judge David Carter firmly rejected the federal government’s preliminary injunction request last month, warning that judicial intervention to discount ballots would disrupt the ongoing election and damage public trust. “If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger,” Judge Carter wrote in his October ruling. He added that never before in American history had the federal government attempted on the eve of an election to coerce a state and local government into abandoning constitutional election procedures to bow to executive will.
In defending its election systems, California officials argued that the federal administration’s method for identifying alleged non-citizen voters is likely flawed and error-ridden. Last week, a federal judge directed the Justice Department to share its compiled list with an immigrant rights group and a voting rights watchdog based at the University of California, Los Angeles. A legal filing analyzing the data revealed that thousands of U.S. citizens appear to have been inexplicably flagged as ineligible to vote. Judge Carter noted that individuals recently flagged as non-citizens on voter rolls in other jurisdictions have repeatedly turned out to be naturalized American citizens.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims regarding widespread voter fraud, which multiple investigations have shown to be exceedingly rare. For the current midterm cycle, the administration has focused heavily on assertions that non-citizens are participating in elections, despite extensive research and previous investigations debunking those claims.
California, the nation’s most populous state, leans heavily Democratic and is not considered competitive for Republicans in the midterm elections. Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, a vocal critic of the administration, has cautioned federal authorities against interfering in the state’s voting procedures. In response to potential disruptions, Newsom announced the deployment of election law experts, poll observers, and a dedicated voter helpline to report any attempts at voter intimidation or interference at polling locations.
