With just over a week until the midterm elections, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has denied the Trump administration’s emergency bid to force California to set aside thousands of mail-in ballots over claims they were sent to non-citizens.
The U.S. Department of Justice had filed an emergency motion with the 9th Circuit to expedite the case. However, judges ruled that they lack jurisdiction because a lower court has yet to make a ruling. A lower district court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case Tuesday afternoon.
The legal clash has immediate ramifications for local election offices across the state. Federal prosecutors have ordered multiple local counties to verify hundreds of ballots, including a letter sent to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters demanding the identification of 902 registered voters the DOJ claims are likely non-citizens.
Santa Clara County Executive James Williams responded to the U.S. Attorney, stating that the county will not comply, in part because there is no legal basis to do so.
“Unsupported allegations from a letter from the federal government does not constitute a basis to sequester voters or failed to count them without a subpoena or a warrant,” Williams said.
Williams added that county officials began reviewing the list of names and found the underlying data to be deeply flawed.
“Just on the first page alone we found 3 duplicates,” Williams said. “The data is messy and we’re not seeing a thoughtful list that’s backed by valid information.”
The Justice Department previously stated it identified roughly 20,000 potential non-citizens on California’s voter rolls and wants election officials to set aside those ballots until citizenship can be verified.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta praised the appellate outcome in a statement, saying, “The court’s order serves as an important step in our efforts to protect Californians’ right to vote and our state’s authority to run fair and secure elections. All the evidence – counts, recounts, hand counts, audits – show that voter fraud is exceedingly rare.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom also welcomed the development, describing the ruling as “a positive development and a welcome speed bump to Trump’s disgusting attacks on the Constitution and our country’s democracy.”
Guy Marzorati, an NBC Bay Area political contributor, noted the unprecedented timing as millions of ballots are already being processed.
“Almost 3 million Californians have cast their ballot, and yet we’re having this conversation, these legal arguments of what to do with thousands of ballots,” Marzorati said. “That’s a big question for the judges, are we just too close to the election to sort out any of this?”
The lower district court hearing is set for Tuesday afternoon. San Francisco, Contra Costa, and San Mateo counties received similar letters from federal prosecutors and are working with the California Secretary of State’s office to determine their responses. The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
