DOJ Requests Supreme Court Review of California Ballot Dispute

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a notice on Monday seeking injunctive relief from the Supreme Court in its ongoing dispute with California over voter roll procedures. The move occurs one day before Election Day and represents the department's latest attempt to intervene in state election administration. The appeal follows a divided Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that rejected the DOJ's request to order California to stop processing ballots for specific individuals.

The Justice Department identified 20,000 names on California's voter roll that it classifies as likely noncitizens. The department argues these ballots should not be counted until citizenship is verified. Federal Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee, previously described the department's actions as a broad pattern of attempted election interference. He and the appellate panel found that the federal list was unreliable and that creating a new system to segregate ballots while voting was already underway was infeasible.

Ninth Circuit Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez wrote that granting the relief posed a material risk of disenfranchisement and could jeopardize Los Angeles County's entire election. They cited the Purcell principle, which advises against changing election rules on the eve of a vote, and the National Voter Registration Act. That statute bars states from systematically removing ineligible voters within 90 days of a federal election. Judge Patrick Bumatay, the panel's third member, dissented from the decision.

Data analysis suggests the scope of the dispute may be smaller than the department claims. UCLA Voting Rights Project researchers, who gained access to the DOJ list via a separate court order, found that 42 percent of the names on the list do not appear on California's current voter roll. The analysis also identified naturalized citizens on the federal list. County election officials noted that many individuals on the DOJ list did not have active registrations and were not mailed ballots.

The legal challenge arrives as tensions between the federal government and California election officials have intensified. The DOJ has recently sent subpoenas to local officials and reminded them of potential criminal prosecution for allowing ineligible votes. On Friday, a federal judge in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order barring the Trump administration from threatening or coercing election officials regarding the disputed ballots. The federal government has appealed that order.

The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to intervene. If it agrees to hear the case, the high court must determine whether to issue a ruling before Tuesday's election. The outcome will determine whether Los Angeles County continues processing the ballots identified by the Justice Department.