Judge Blocks Federal Effort to Remove 20,000 California Mail Ballots

U.S. District Judge David Carter denied the federal government's request to separate mail ballots from approximately 20,000 Californians on Wednesday.

The decision came six days before the midterm elections, which will decide control of both chambers of Congress. Carter issued a 26-page opinion stating that the federal intervention conflicted with the constitutional authority of states to manage their own elections. He warned that the order could allow either political party to disrupt the process for political gain. The judge noted that granting the request might deprive more than 20,000 registered voters of their rights.

During Tuesday's hearing, Carter questioned the timing of the intervention. He asked why prosecutors could not pursue cases after the election against individuals believed to have voted illegally. He pointed out that returned ballot envelopes contain identifying information that could support future prosecutions. The judge described the proposed separation of ballots during the active voting period as a major alteration of established procedures.

The Justice Department filed suit earlier this month against California, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, and Los Angeles County election official Dean Logan. Before suing, federal prosecutors gave election officials 48 hours to review a list of suspected noncitizens. The government sought to prevent those ballots from counting until citizenship was confirmed. California officials challenged both the demand and the accuracy of the provided list. The state has more than 23 million registered voters.

Federal lawyers argued that counting ballots from noncitizens dilutes the value of citizens' votes. Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, stated the administration was not seeking to cancel ballots. He emphasized the need for public confidence in the election results. Both federal and California law bar noncitizens from voting.

California officials labeled the lawsuit as politically motivated. Deputy Attorney General Anne Bellows warned that the requested order would disrupt election operations. State lawyers questioned whether the government relied on outdated registration data. The administration responded that it supplements voter data through a third-party service. Los Angeles County lawyers stated that manually checking envelopes against the list could not be completed by the end of the election period. Only slightly more than 7,000 listed records had county addresses. A county review of 200 records found that more than half involved canceled or inactive registrations. Just over 38% of that sample listed the United States as a birthplace.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services disputed the birthplace findings. Agency official Nicolas Bartell said its review of immigration records showed none of the 200 people were born in the United States. He acknowledged that an ongoing analysis identified roughly 189 records with minor discrepancies on the larger list. California began mailing ballots in early October. More than 3.5 million mail ballots have been returned statewide, with Los Angeles County processing over 550,000.