WASHINGTON (The Thursday Times) — The US Justice Department said on Monday it plans to ask the Supreme Court to step into its fight with California over the state’s voter rolls, a day before the midterm elections, after two lower courts refused to order ballots set aside.
The department says it has identified 20,000 “likely” noncitizens on California’s voter roll and wants their ballots held back until their citizenship can be checked. It is not clear whether the Supreme Court will take up the case, or whether it would act before election day.
The real number of ballots in dispute is likely to be far smaller. County election officials have found that many people on the list did not have active registrations and were not mailed ballots.
A federal district judge rejected the request, and on Friday a divided panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals did the same. California and Los Angeles County argued that the federal list is unreliable and that a new system for separating ballots could not be set up while voting is under way.
“There is a material risk that granting the United States its requested relief would result in disenfranchisement and could jeopardize the County’s entire election,” wrote Judges Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, and Gabriel Sanchez, a Biden appointee. Judge Patrick Bumatay, also appointed by Trump, dissented.
The two judges cited the long-standing rule that election procedures should not be changed on the eve of a vote, as well as the Constitution’s grant of authority to states to run elections. They also pointed to a federal law barring states from systematically removing ineligible voters within 90 days of a federal election.
The dispute has been escalating. In recent weeks, department officials have warned local election officials they could be criminally prosecuted if they do not cooperate, and last week the department sent grand jury subpoenas to employees of the Los Angeles County election office.
California’s polls close at 9am on Wednesday, Pakistan time. Its mail ballots could delay the final House count, with control of Congress at stake.
