Appeals court rejects DOJ bid to set aside disputed California ballots
Also reported by Al Jazeera, The Hill
Summary
The 9th Circuit rejected the Justice Department’s request to have California set aside disputed ballots in the midterm election while officials verify voters’ citizenship. The majority said the request could disenfranchise eligible voters and disrupt ballot counting, and found no clear error in the district court’s conclusion that officials could not isolate the ballots without risking the broader process.Key Facts
- The appeals court ruled 2-1 against the Justice Department’s request.
- Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez joined the unsigned majority decision; Judge Patrick Bumatay dissented.
- The administration says about 20,000 people who may not be U.S. citizens received ballots and wants those ballots held until citizenship is verified.
- California officials say the list is unreliable and likely includes U.S. citizens.
- Hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been processed, and election officials say those votes are anonymized and cannot be matched to individual voters.
- The ruling came days before Election Day, after millions of Californians had already voted.
- A federal judge in Washington ordered the administration to share the disputed voter list with lawyers for two voting-rights groups.
- Unions including the A.F.L.-C.I.O. and AFSCME joined a legal challenge to the Justice Department’s election-related demands.
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