Federal Election Dispute: 9th Circuit Blocks Ballot Freeze

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 decision on Friday denying the Justice Department's demand that California hold approximately 20,000 disputed ballots for a citizenship review before counting them.

The administration's legal team argued that the state sent ballots to individuals who may not be U.S. citizens and that those votes should be excluded until verification is complete. California officials countered that the federal list is unreliable and likely contains many eligible citizens. The appellate panel agreed with the state, stating there is no feasible method to identify and segregate specific ballots without causing catastrophic effects on the broader election system.

Judge Mark J. Bennett, appointed by President Donald Trump, and Judge Gabriel P. Sanchez, appointed by former President Joe Biden, authored the majority opinion. The ruling serves as the second federal court defeat for the Trump administration in its effort to intervene in state-run elections prior to the midterm vote. A lower district court judge had previously rejected the same request, warning that the federal government's demands risked disenfranchising citizens.

Elections officials noted that hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been processed and anonymized. They stated that once processed, votes cannot be matched back to the specific voters who submitted them. This technical reality makes the Justice Department's request to set aside specific votes logistically difficult, as the system does not retain the personal identifiers needed to isolate those ballots from the general pool.

The legal conflict continues to expand as outside groups seek to inspect the disputed list. A federal judge in Washington ordered the administration to share the list of names with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the UCLA Voting Rights Project. These organizations plan to examine the list to assess its impact on eligible voters. This will be the first time a nongovernment organization evaluates the merits of the 20,000 names. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra serves as an adviser to the UCLA Voting Rights Project.

Labor unions have also entered the dispute, filing a lawsuit to block the Justice Department from demanding that local officials stop counting ballots. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees are seeking a temporary order to stop federal officials from threatening criminal prosecution against local staff who do not comply with the new requirements. Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, warned that election officials who knowingly process the ballot of a noncitizen are opening themselves to legal jeopardy.

The Department of Justice issued subpoenas to election officials in Los Angeles County on Thursday. These subpoenas request documents and communications related to letters sent in July and October outlining the noncitizen allegations. At least three local officials have been asked to appear before a grand jury on Nov. 4, the day after the election. The unions argue that these legal threats interfere with the ability of election workers to process votes efficiently.