Federal Appeals Court Orders California to Address DOJ Concerns on Mail-In Ballots

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has mandated that California respond by noon on Saturday in response to the Trump administration’s emergency request. This involves approximately 20,000 mail-in ballots sent to individuals the Justice Department suspects might not be citizens ahead of the midterm elections. The order was given late on Friday after the DOJ filed its emergency request seeking a decision by Saturday.

The Justice Department has requested emergency relief from the appeals court following U.S. District Judge David Carter’s lack of ruling by a previously set deadline. The DOJ asks California election officials to set aside ballots tied to individuals on their list for eligibility review instead of processing them with other votes. In their emergency filing, the DOJ highlighted the urgency, stating, “This is an emergency,” and emphasized that processing these ballots without segregation could result in the disenfranchisement of U.S. citizen votes.

Despite the Ninth Circuit’s order, a hearing before Judge Carter is still scheduled for Tuesday. It is uncertain if the appeals court will rule before this hearing, according to Fox News’ Matt Finn. Bill Essayli, the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, mentioned that investigators have evidence indicating that the 20,000 individuals received mail-in ballots in October. Last week, his office sued California to prevent counting these ballots.

Essayli stated, “We’re not asking California to take any drastic steps other than to sequester the ballots from the suspected noncitizens.” He highlighted that the suspected number of ineligible voters is at least 20,000. This week, Essayli also sparred with California Gov. Gavin Newsom over social media about the state’s verification procedures for voter rolls. Newsom defended the integrity of California’s elections, while Essayli criticized the state’s citizenship verification as inadequate.

California election officials have rejected the DOJ’s demands, arguing in court that county election offices lack both the authority and access to federal records necessary for verifying citizenship status. They also mentioned that separating ballots related to the DOJ’s list would be impossible if the ballots have already been processed. Once a ballot’s signature is verified, it is separated from its envelope and processed with other ballots. To date, Los Angeles County alone has processed 331,000 ballots.