9th Circuit backs California in fight over 20,000 disputed ballots

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Justice Department's request on Friday for California to set aside disputed ballots from the midterm election. The panel issued a 2-1 decision that blocks the federal government from forcing the state to separate votes from approximately 20,000 individuals suspected of lacking U.S. citizenship.

The Trump administration has argued that California sent ballots to people who may not be citizens. It sought to have those votes excluded from the final tally until citizenship could be verified. California officials maintain that the federal list is unreliable and likely contains many eligible citizens.

The appeals court agreed with a lower district judge who had previously denied the request. The panel stated that there is no feasible way to identify and segregate specific ballots without causing catastrophic effects on the entire voting 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 arrives days before Election Day in California. Millions of residents have already cast their ballots, and hundreds of thousands have been processed. State election officials note that processed votes are anonymized and cannot be matched back to the specific voters who submitted them.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the decision. The case is part of a wider legal confrontation between the federal government and state election boards. The administration has issued subpoenas in Alaska and provided a similar list of alleged noncitizen voters to officials in Washington state.

In Washington, a federal judge ordered the administration on Friday to share its list of names with legal teams for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the UCLA Voting Rights Project. This will be the first time a nongovernmental organization can examine the 20,000 names to assess their impact on eligible voters.

Federal prosecutors have argued that counting votes from noncitizens dilutes the voice of citizens. They contend that there is just as much to lose from illegal voting as there is to gain from the process. Xavier Becerra, the Democratic gubernatorial candidate, serves as an adviser to the UCLA Voting Rights Project.

A coalition of unions joined the legal challenge on Friday. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees are asking a federal judge to temporarily block the Justice Department from demanding that local officials stop counting ballots. The unions also want the department to drop threats to criminally prosecute officials who do not comply.

Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, warned that any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen is opening themselves to legal jeopardy. The Associated Press obtained subpoenas on Thursday directed at Los Angeles County election officials. These subpoenas request documents related to federal letters sent in July and October outlining the allegations.

At least three Los Angeles County election officials have been asked to appear before a grand jury on Nov. 4, the day after the election. The subpoenas seek information about efforts to prevent noncitizen votes from being counted. It remains unclear whether the Justice Department intends to bring criminal charges against any individual, as the department does not typically subpoena targets of a criminal investigation to appear before a grand jury.