Judge David Carter Halts DOJ Effort to Segregate 20,000 California Ballots

U.S. District Judge David Carter denied the Department of Justice's emergency request to segregate 20,000 California ballots on Wednesday evening. The ruling blocks a federal effort to stop the processing of votes belonging to individuals the DOJ identifies as likely noncitizens. The decision leaves the state's current vote-counting procedures intact for the upcoming midterm elections.

The conflict centers on a list of 20,000 voters provided by federal officials. The Justice Department argues that these individuals are likely not citizens and that their votes dilute the ballots of eligible U.S. citizens. California state and local officials counter that the list is unreliable. A preliminary analysis by Los Angeles County indicates that many individuals on the roster do not hold active voter registrations in the state.

State Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, characterized the federal lawsuit as a precursor to further interference. He wrote in a motion that the litigation seeks to degrade democratic values and constitutional principles. Bonta asked the court to consider the timing of the demand, which arrived days before Election Day when mail ballot processing is already underway.

The DOJ filed its lawsuit in California on Oct. 15. The department has pursued similar actions in other states in recent weeks. On Monday, federal prosecutors requested that Washington state election officials review a list of 400 registered voters suspected of being noncitizens. Last week, the DOJ filed a lawsuit in Alaska seeking to prevent the certification of Senate race results if the Republican incumbent loses due to votes for a longshot candidate with a similar name.

Carter, a Clinton appointee, issued a 26-page order denying the temporary restraining order. He stated that the federal government has never previously sought to coerce state and local governments to abandon their constitutional election procedures on the eve of an election. The judge expressed concern that segregating votes could disenfranchise eligible voters and create administrative chaos.

Carter noted that once a vote is segregated, lasting harm occurs. He wrote that if the executive branch can discount votes based on unproven allegations, democracy is in danger. The court declined to participate in such a process, favoring the continuation of existing state protocols.

The Justice Department argues the situation is urgent because mail ballots are already being processed. Once signatures on returned envelopes are verified, ballots are separated from their envelopes to maintain voter confidentiality. This separation makes it impossible to retrieve ineligible ballots later. Federal prosecutors have charged dozens of people in the last two months with registering or voting without being U.S. citizens.

Disputes remain over the accuracy of the federal list. A Los Angeles County analysis of a small sample found that a large portion of the individuals recorded that they were born in the U.S. Nicolas Bartell, a senior official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, contested this in court filings. He stated that his office found none of the sampled individuals were U.S.-born, though he acknowledged four might have a claim to citizenship.

Kassra Oskooi, a University of Delaware political scientist serving as an expert witness for voting rights groups, responded to USCIS's methodology. He declared in court filings that the matching protocol used to create the list is likely unreliable. The DOJ is expected to appeal Carter's denial, and the case could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

The ruling allows California to continue processing the 20,000 contested ballots according to standard state procedures. The Justice Department will move forward with its appeal strategy as the election date approaches.