California Ballot Lawsuit: DOJ Sues Over 20,000 Ballots

The california ballot lawsuit escalated on Thursday as the Justice Department sued the state’s election officials, seeking a court order that would bar California from counting mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 voters the federal government describes as likely noncitizens until their citizenship is confirmed.

The suit, filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, targets ballots cast in next month’s midterm elections on November 3. It asks a judge to prevent the state from tabulating vote-by-mail ballots received from voters on the department’s list until their immigration status is verified.

48-Hour Deadline Sparked the Filing

The lawsuit follows a Tuesday demand letter that gave California a 48-hour deadline to review a password-protected thumb drive containing the list of suspected noncitizens. The department says the state mails ballots to all registered voters and that those on the list had been sent ballots.

Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter warned Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan that they would face legal action if they failed to review the list in time.

State Officials Questioned the Method

Logan said his office received the letter and the thumb drive this week along with a handwritten note providing the password, adding that he did not consider the thumb drive a secure device. The secretary of state’s office said the password was written on a sticky note.

The Justice Department’s filing says the federal government sought to work collaboratively with California to identify noncitizens registered to vote, and that “California made no serious effort to do so.” The secretary of state’s office, in a statement late Wednesday, suggested the outreach had not been collaborative.

Source: Reuters