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The Trump administration is demanding an emergency court order to stop California from counting ballots tied to more than 20,000 suspected noncitizens, warning that once the votes are mixed in, there may be no way to undo it.
First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli and Attorney General Todd Blanche are leading the Justice Department’s push for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to force California to set aside the disputed mail-in ballots and verify voters’ citizenship before counting them.
“Every minute that goes by, American citizen votes are being diluted in the state of California,” Essayli said Thursday. “It’s an emergency, and we expect the courts to treat it as such.”
The DOJ says it identified more than 20,000 people who are registered to vote in California, received mail-in ballots and are considered highly likely to be noncitizens.
Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections, and the government says some people have already been criminally charged over alleged illegal registration and voting.
“We’re not asking California to take any drastic steps other than to sequester the ballots from the suspected noncitizens,” Essayli told Fox News. “We believe it’s at a minimum of 20,000. That’s the floor.”
The emergency motion warns that Los Angeles County has already processed more than 331,000 mail-in ballots.
Once election workers separate ballots from their envelopes, the government argues, identifying individual voters becomes impossible — making it critical to keep potentially ineligible ballots separate before they are counted.
The administration is asking the appeals court to order California to segregate the ballots and verify citizenship before tabulation. It is seeking a ruling by Saturday, Oct. 24.
The motion names California, Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan as defendants. California and Weber oppose the request.
The appeal follows US District Judge David O. Carter’s failure to rule on the administration’s emergency request by its demanded deadline.
The DOJ argues the delay effectively denied its bid for immediate relief.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has said California follows applicable federal election laws.