Appeals court rejects Justice Department request for California to set aside disputed ballots
Also reported by Al Jazeera, CBS News
Summary
A 9th Circuit panel rejected the Justice Department’s request to have California set aside ballots linked to about 20,000 people whose citizenship is disputed. The court said there was no feasible way to separate those ballots without risking broader harm to the election system; the Justice Department has said it plans to appeal.Key Facts
- The appeals court ruled 2-1 on Friday.
- The Justice Department asked California not to count the ballots until voters’ citizenship could be verified.
- California officials said the list was unreliable and likely included many U.S. citizens.
- The appeals court majority said separating the ballots could have potentially catastrophic effects on the election system.
- The district court had rejected the Justice Department’s request earlier in the week, warning that it could disenfranchise citizens.
- Hundreds of thousands of ballots had already been processed, and election officials said those ballots could not be matched to individual voters because they were anonymized.
- A federal judge in Washington ordered the administration to share the disputed list with lawyers for two voting-rights groups.
- Judge Patrick J. Bumatay dissented, arguing that California’s refusal to set aside the ballots could undermine federal efforts to prevent illegal voting.
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