‘Pattern of attempted election interference’: Federal judge denies DOJ ballot-blocking attempt

A federal judge has denied the Trump administration’s request to set aside 20,000 California ballots it claims may be coming from noncitizens.

The ruling is the latest defeat — and the second this week alone — in the Trump administration’s attempts to prove the president’s claims of widespread voting fraud, specifically in California.

“Every generation in our history has witnessed repeated clashes between those who seek to limit access to the ballot and those who fight to ensure it,” U.S. District Judge David O. Carter wrote. “In this case, the federal government seeks to segregate and exclude over 20,000 ballots.”

Carter, appointed by President Bill Clinton, wrote that he would not be part of a move that could disenfranchise voters. He also cast doubt on how the Justice Department came to the list of 20,000 possible noncitizens, adding that the government’s explanations “raised multiple questions regarding liability.”

The judge also said DOJ lawyers failed to prove its case that the state was impeding the federal government’s ability to ensure a fair election.

“No administration can disenfranchise thousands of individuals or disrupt an ongoing election based on highly unreliable claims of noncitizenship,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. “Today’s ruling is yet another important victory for the rule of law and the right to vote.”

The Justice Department immediately filed an appeal with the Ninth Circuit. An appeals panel already denied the government's request for an expedited ruling, with two of the three judges writing on Monday they doubt the government’s case would succeed.

“Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch,” Carter wrote in his decision. “In bringing this lawsuit, the Executive would have this Court believe that it reigns as a sole sovereign. But California and its people are sovereign, too.”

Carter compared the ballot-blocking attempt to poll taxes and literacy tests that sought to block individuals from voting.

If the government’s request were granted, Carter wrote, “over 20,000 registered Californians would potentially lose the right that generations of Americans have fought to preserve.”

The judge referenced the 31 lawsuits the DOJ has filed, seeking states’ complete voter rolls, writing the Trump administration has engaged in a “broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference.” 

Carter also pointed out the Justice Department has presented other states with lists of voters it believes to be noncitizens, though the lists have seemingly relied on faulty data. Of 185 targeted individuals in Nevada, election officials found that each was a citizen.

In California, L.A. County election officials reviewed a list of 200 individuals the government claimed were noncitizens. Of the 200 names, 112 are not actively registered to vote and thus did not receive a mail-in ballot. Nearly 39% reported being born in the United States, and 71% have no voting history.