9th Circuit blocks DOJ ballot pause
A split panel ruled Friday that California cannot segregate the roughly 20,000 disputed ballots without disrupting the entire state's vote count.
By Bianca Herrera ·
A federal appeals court in Los Angeles ruled on Friday that California must continue processing ballots in the upcoming midterm election. The decision denies a request from the Justice Department to set aside specific votes pending a citizenship review. This marks a fresh legal hurdle for the administration's campaign to oversee state election procedures.
The 9th Circuit panel voted 2-1 to uphold a lower court's order. That judge had rejected the federal government's demand on Wednesday. The core dispute centers on a list of approximately 20,000 voters. The Justice Department claims these individuals may not be U.S. citizens and wants their ballots excluded until verification is complete.
California officials argue the data is unreliable and likely includes many eligible citizens. The appeals court agreed with the district judge that separating the votes would cause severe logistical problems. The opinion stated there is no feasible method to identify and segregate these ballots without negatively affecting the entire voting system.
Judge Mark J. Bennett and Judge Gabriel P. Sanchez wrote the majority opinion. Judge Patrick J. Bumatay dissented, arguing that California's refusal to separate the ballots allows federal law to be violated. He noted that logistical difficulty is not a valid reason for courts to abandon their duty to ensure election integrity.
The ruling arrives just before Election Day. Millions of Californians have already cast their ballots. Election officials say hundreds of thousands of those votes are already processed and anonymized. This makes it impossible to match a specific ballot to a specific voter for the purpose of exclusion.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. However, its lawyers indicated they will appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. A final ruling will determine if the federal government can use broad lists of suspected noncitizens to intervene in state elections across the country.
On the same day, a federal judge in Washington ordered the administration to share the disputed name list with two legal groups. The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the UCLA Voting Rights Project will examine the data. This is the first time outside organizations will evaluate the merits of the list.
Matt Barreto, who leads the UCLA project, said the final outcome will define the scope of federal intervention in local elections. Meanwhile, a coalition of unions filed a separate suit. They are asking a judge to block the Justice Department from demanding that local officials stop counting ballots or threaten them with criminal prosecution.
