Justice Department seeks Supreme Court review of California voter dispute

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a request Monday for the Supreme Court to intervene in a dispute with California over the counting of specific voter ballots.

The filing occurred one day before Tuesday's Election Day. The Justice Department identified 20,000 individuals it classifies as likely noncitizens on the state's voter roll. It seeks a court order to set aside the ballots for these people until their citizenship is verified.

The request follows lower court rejections of the federal government's earlier moves. Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee serving in federal court, previously described the department's actions as a broad pattern of attempted election interference. A divided panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals also denied the Justice Department's emergency request on Friday.

Two judges on that panel, Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez, wrote that granting the federal relief carried a material risk of disenfranchisement. They cited the Purcell principle, which discourages changing election rules close to an election, and the National Voter Registration Act. The act prevents states from systematically removing voters within 90 days of a federal election. Judge Patrick Bumatay issued a dissenting opinion.

State officials and Los Angeles County argue the federal list is unreliable. They contend that creating a new system to segregate ballots while voting is active is infeasible. County data suggests the number of affected ballots is lower than the federal figure. Many names on the list did not have active registrations or receive mailed ballots.

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, Voting Rights Project analyzed the list following a court order in a separate lawsuit. Their review found that 42% of the names did not appear on the current California voter roll. The analysis also identified naturalized citizens included on the federal list.

The Justice Department has intensified its scrutiny of California election officials in recent weeks. The department sent subpoenas and reminded officials of potential criminal prosecution for allowing ineligible voters to cast ballots. A federal judge in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order late Friday. That order bars the administration from threatening or coercing election officials to stop processing these ballots. The federal government has appealed that order.