A US appeals court has ruled against the Trump administration in its effort to stop California from counting certain mail-in ballots in this election cycle. In a decision issued on Monday, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals denied the government's request to sequester roughly 20,000 mailed ballots before the November 3 midterm election.
The administration has asserted that the ballots were sent to people who are "likely" non-citizens. It has not publicly explained how it compiled its list or how it determined that the people named on it were ineligible because of their citizenship status.
The panel split two to one. The majority said the administration had not given lower courts enough time to review the case, and it therefore declined to halt California's ballot tabulation. It also stressed that running elections is a responsibility the US Constitution assigns to the states.
The administration was asking "the federal court to dictate to a state legislature a matter squarely within the state's traditional domain", Judge Gabriel Sanchez wrote in the opinion. Sanchez added that granting the petition would be "inviting disorder and confusion for voters and election officials alike".
The Justice Department filed its lawsuit against California on October 15, less than three weeks before the vote. The case is still before a lower court, which has a hearing scheduled for Tuesday. The administration asked the appeals court for a faster ruling, citing the approaching election date.
California is led by Democrats, and President Donald Trump, a Republican, has repeatedly made unfounded claims that the state is prone to "cheating" in its elections. California officials have cast doubt on the claim that 20,000 ballots went to "likely non-citizens" and have described the suit as an attempt to interfere in the voting process. In an October 20 court filing, lawyers for Secretary of State Shirley Weber called the litigation "at best" a "reckless political stunt" and "at worst" a threat to "disenfranchise thousands of Californians this election".
The midterms will decide which party controls Congress. Republicans currently hold slim majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, but experts project that Democrats are on track for significant gains and could flip one or both chambers.
The ruling is the latest setback for the administration on voting matters. Trump's Justice Department has sued 30 states and Washington, DC, seeking full access to voter rolls containing sensitive personal data, arguing that this is needed to prevent alleged voter fraud. It has lost 26 of those cases so far and has yet to win any of the 30, as opponents successfully argued that the moves could scare away voters and interfere with state election administration.
Experts say voting by non-citizens is rare, and non-citizens are barred from taking part in federal elections in all 50 states. A Reuters investigation in July found only 129 cases of non-citizens being charged by federal authorities with illegal voting since 1996. Many involved mistakes, such as administrative errors or confusion over voting rules, rather than fraudulent intent.
Voting rights advocates have also pointed to flaws in how the administration identifies possible non-citizen voting, warning that some eligible voters could be disenfranchised. Immigration agents have been assigned to look for non-citizen voters, in some cases knocking on doors to ask residents about their citizenship status. Last week, the administration charged 28 immigrants in California with illegal voting, but the Los Angeles Times reported that some of the accused responded with confusion and said they had never registered to vote.
