A federal judge in California rejected a Trump administration request to segregate 20,000 mail-in ballots from alleged noncitizens, ruling Wednesday that the demand violates state election control and would disrupt ongoing voting in the 2026 midterm elections.
Judge David Carter Rejects Department of Justice Voting Request
U.S. District Judge David Carter issued a 26-page ruling on Wednesday denying a Justice Department request to immediately block California election officials from counting ballots from approximately 20,000 registered voters whose citizenship the administration challenged in federal court. The administration swiftly announced an appeal.
The decision marks the latest setback for federal efforts to exert control over state election procedures just ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, where the Republican Party is defending narrow majorities in both chambers of Congress. Carter, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, wrote that the emergency demand ran afoul of foundational constitutional principles.
FEDERAL JUDGE TO TRUMP’S DOJ: "Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch."……
— https://x.com/SupervisorAlejo/status/2115617641847251186
Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch.
U.S. District Judge David Carter
The judge warned that forcing election workers to segregate the ballots would wreak havoc, create a chilling effect on both voters and county staff, and potentially disenfranchise thousands of eligible Americans.
Disputed Methodology and Conflicting Voter Lists Across Counties
The legal fight centers on a list of 20,000 names delivered to election officials in Los Angeles and Sacramento on a USB drive with a password written on a sticky note. The federal government gave local authorities just 48 hours to review the data and sequester ballots. When counties inspected the files, local clerks found severe discrepancies.
Breaking: A federal appeals court has rejected the Trump administration’s unprecedented attempt to force California to set aside votes from 20,000 people it claims are noncitizens. https://t.co/Cc8rjaxdCP
— https://x.com/jimsciutto/status/2114855849013477750
In Butte County, Clerk-Recorder Keaton Denlay examined a list of 47 names sent by federal authorities and found that 32 of those individuals were not even active on the county voter rolls and had never been sent ballots. Other officials reported that the files appeared to be poorly formatted spreadsheet screenshots containing jumbled and missing information.
Voting rights attorneys and state officials argued that the lists relied on flawed data-matching programs. According to court disclosures from a Department of Homeland Security whistleblower cited by Democracy Docket, federal agents manually matched public rolls against immigration records and used Social Security numbers to access state voter portals, a process that risked sweeping birthright citizens into the flagged groups.
NEWS RELEASE: Federal Court Denies DOJ Request to Set Aside Ballots Ahead of November 3 General ElectionRuling affirms election procedures and reinforces protections for eligible votersLink: https://t.co/GjjEmw2NWZ
— https://x.com/LACountyRRCC/status/2115637590082916615
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and Ongoing Legal Escalations
Before Carter issued his ruling, the Justice Department attempted to bypass the district court entirely. Frustrated by the schedule, federal prosecutors appealed directly to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to force an emergency order. A three-judge panel ruled 2-1 to dismiss the appeal as premature, noting that the lower court had not yet been given adequate time to evaluate the case.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles who argued the case for the administration, criticized Carter’s decision and defended the reliability of the federal data. Following the ruling, the Solicitor General authorized an immediate appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
Carter noted during proceedings that federal prosecutors already possess a direct remedy if they suspect illegal voting, pointing to existing criminal indictments brought against individuals accused of casting ballots unlawfully. He questioned why counting votes would impair federal prosecutions, emphasizing that states are not required to assist federal law enforcement agencies in investigating election crimes.
National Implications for Midterm Election Certification
The California lawsuit is part of a broader federal strategy targeting voting rolls in competitive states. Similar demands and letters have been dispatched to election offices in Washington state and other regions. In Alaska, the Trump administration filed a separate lawsuit seeking to block certification of Senate election results if incumbent GOP Senator Dan Sullivan loses.
The U.S. DOJ filed a notice of appeal, asking 9th circuit to take up request to force CA to set aside 20k ballots sent to alleged non-citizens. This, after a federal district judge today denied the request. 9th circuit earlier this week denied emergency request but mainly cuz…
— https://x.com/ZavalaA/status/2115639264755282313
Meanwhile, mail-in voting has been underway since early October. In Los Angeles County alone, officials have processed more than 550,000 ballots, while over 3.5 million mail ballots have been returned statewide. With the Ninth Circuit review pending, voting rights organizations and state leaders maintain that local election boards will continue tabulating ballots under established state laws as the November 3 deadline approaches.
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