Summary
The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to order California election workers to set aside mail ballots from more than 20,000 people the government suspects are not U.S. citizens. The request followed rulings by a federal district judge and a divided Ninth Circuit panel that rejected earlier efforts to separate the ballots while citizenship is checked.Key Facts
- The Justice Department said the ballots should be segregated until voters’ citizenship can be verified.
- California election officials questioned the accuracy of the government’s list and raised concerns that eligible voters could be disenfranchised.
- U.S. District Judge David Carter rejected the administration’s request for a temporary restraining order on Wednesday.
- A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel denied the Justice Department’s request on Friday in a 2-1 decision.
- The government’s list included more than 20,000 people it said were registered to vote but were not U.S. citizens.
- More than 6 million mail ballots had been returned statewide by Sunday, according to the California secretary of state’s office.
- California had more than 23 million registered voters, and voting had been underway since early October.
