Trump Administration Seeks Supreme Court Help To Stop California From Counting 20,000 Ballots

The Supreme Court denied the Trump administration’s emergency request on Monday evening to stop California from counting specific mail ballots.

The Justice Department had asked the high court to intervene in a dispute over more than 20,000 votes. The government claims these ballots were cast by individuals on a list of suspected noncitizens. It sought a court order to force state election workers to set these ballots aside until citizenship is verified.

The legal battle began after the Justice Department and Dean Logan, the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder and county clerk, submitted a list of 20,000 people. They argued these individuals were registered to vote but not U.S. citizens. The officials requested that any returned ballots from this group be segregated and not tabulated immediately. State election officials expressed concern about the accuracy of the list and the risk of disenfranchising eligible voters.

U.S. District Judge David Carter issued a temporary restraining order on Wednesday to block the segregation. Carter, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, stated that the public interest favors protecting constitutional rights. He wrote that voters who meet California’s registration requirements should not lose their right to vote due to unfounded allegations from a procedure filled with uncertainty and errors.

A three-judge panel on the 9th Circuit split 2-1 on Friday. The panel denied the Justice Department’s request to separate the ballots pending a full citizenship check. This decision prompted the administration to file for emergency relief at the Supreme Court on Monday.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer described the government’s request as a modest remedy. He argued that the goal is to ensure noncitizen ballots do not dilute valid votes. Sauer noted that once California mixes the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to retrieve them. He wrote that segregating the ballots now is the only method to preserve the district court’s ability to grant relief after a full merits proceeding.

More than 6 million mail ballots were returned statewide as of Sunday. Voting in California has been underway since early October. The state has more than 23 million registered voters.