Judge denies federal request to segregate California ballots, says it would 'wreak havoc' on voting

PBS NewsHour and CNN report that U. S. District Judge David O. Carter turned down a Trump administration bid to keep California from counting as many as 20,000 ballots cast by people the government suspects are not citizens. Carter warned that setting those ballots aside would upend an election already in progress, and PBS NewsHour notes that more than 3. 7 million Californians have already voted. The Justice Department said it would appeal right away.

Carter reasoned that separating ballots would force counties to invent new sorting methods and could shut out legitimate voters, which PBS NewsHour says would amount to a prohibited change to voter rolls. He also pointed out that prosecutors can already pursue noncitizens accused of illegal voting, and PBS NewsHour says 28 have been arrested. CNN adds that the department relied on a purchased voter list matched against other government data, and that local officials found many names absent from their rolls or suspended. It also says the 9th Circuit earlier sent the case back as premature.

First Assistant U. S. Attorney Bill Essayli argued that setting ballots aside would not stop later counting.

Summarized by PolitiKool from PBS NewsHour and CNN’s reporting. Read the full story at PBS NewsHour → Also at CNN →