Election Law: DOJ seeks Supreme Court review of California voter roll dispute

The Department of Justice has identified 20,000 individuals on the California voter roll whom it considers likely noncitizens. The federal agency filed a notice on Monday seeking injunctive relief from the U.S. Supreme Court to stop the state from counting those ballots until citizenship is verified. This request comes one day before Tuesday's Election Day.

The legal battle began when the Justice Department demanded that California set aside the ballots for these voters. A federal judge in San Francisco, David Carter, rejected the initial request. Carter, a Clinton appointee, described the move as part of a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference by federal officials. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals then reviewed the case on an emergency basis.

On Friday, a divided panel of the 9th Circuit denied the government's request to pause ballot processing. Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez wrote that there was a material risk that granting the relief would result in disenfranchisement. They cited the Purcell principle, which discourages changing election rules on the eve of an election. The panel also noted that the Constitution grants states authority to administer their own elections.

Judge Patrick Bumatay dissented from the decision. The majority opinion also pointed to the National Voter Registration Act, which prevents states from systematically removing ineligible voters within 90 days of a federal election. The Justice Department is now asking the Supreme Court to override these lower court rulings.

The number of ballots actually at stake is likely lower than the 20,000 figure cited by the federal government. Los Angeles County election officials found that many names on the DOJ list did not have active registrations and were not mailed ballots. Data scientists at the University of California Los Angeles Voting Rights Project analyzed the list over the weekend under a court order in a separate lawsuit.

The UCLA analysis determined that 42% of the names on the federal list do not appear on California's current voter roll. The group also identified naturalized citizens among those flagged by the Justice Department. The state and the county have argued that the federal list is unreliable and that creating a new system to segregate ballots during an active election is infeasible.

The dispute has escalated in recent weeks with the Justice Department sending subpoenas to California election officials. The agency also reminded officials that they could face criminal prosecution for allowing ineligible voters to cast ballots. A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order late Friday to bar the administration from threatening or coercing these officials. The government has appealed that order as well.