Judge blocks DOJ pause on 20,000 California mail ballots

A federal judge denied the Justice Department's request to temporarily stop California from counting 20,000 mail ballots.

The dispute centers on a government list of voters it identifies as noncitizens. The ruling arrived six days before the midterm election on Tuesday. The case was filed on October 15, a rare intervention by the federal executive branch so close to the vote. The election will determine which party controls Congress, along with state and local seats.

US District Judge David Carter issued the decision on Wednesday. Carter, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1998, wrote that the federal government had never before sought to force a state to abandon its constitutional election procedures on the eve of an election. He found the last-minute demand conflicted with longstanding principles that give states control over their elections. The Justice Department appealed the ruling to the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals immediately. The department did not respond to a comment request from Reuters.

The legal challenge is part of a wider federal effort to expand oversight of elections. President Donald Trump's administration has sought to keep Republican control of both chambers of Congress. Reuters documented more than 100 subpoenas issued by the administration in the past three months. These subpoenas sought records on tens of thousands of voters in at least 13 states, including both Republican and Democratic areas. Some records date back to the start of the year. Many had not been reported publicly before.

California argued its safeguards are strong and that the government's data is suspect. The state warned that meeting the DOJ's demands could cost eligible voters their rights. Democracy Docket, a platform that tracks election litigation, reported that the government's list appears to have been created using a flawed process. A government whistleblower filed in court that voters are being scrutinized nationwide under the federal Unlawful Voter Initiative investigation. The whistleblower warned that the process is knowingly sweeping known US citizens in as potentially unlawful voters.

In Los Angeles County, one in four voters on the noncitizen list were born in the US. Legal experts note that while noncitizens are barred from federal elections, there is little evidence that noncitizen voting is widespread. The collected records could be used to challenge close midterm results in the future.