US Judge Rejects Justice Department Bid to Seize Ballots of 20,000 California Voters

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected the US Department of Justice’s attempt to prevent more than 20,000 California voters from having their ballots counted, describing the move as an unprecedented effort to interfere with election procedures shortly before voting.

US District Judge David O. Carter ruled against the request, siding with California’s Democratic-led government and refusing to order the seizure of ballots belonging to voters whose citizenship status had been questioned by federal officials.

The dispute erupted ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, in which President Donald Trump’s Republican Party faces the risk of losing control of Congress. Democratic leaders had sued the administration, accusing federal officials of using threats and intimidation against state and local election authorities.

In his decision, Carter criticised the timing and nature of the Justice Department’s intervention.

“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,” he wrote.

“Constitutional rights and our democracy are at stake. The public interest favors their protection,” the judge added.

Carter said registered voters should not lose a fundamental right because of allegations based on procedures that could produce uncertain or erroneous results.

“Those registered on California’s voter roles must not be deprived of a core right merely because of unfounded allegations stemming from a procedure rife with uncertainty and errors,” he wrote.

The federal government had accused California in recent months of having 190,000 illegal voters on its registration lists. It later revised the figure to approximately 20,000 and filed an emergency lawsuit around 10 days before the ruling, after early voting had already begun.

The Justice Department sought to prevent the state from sending ballots to the individuals identified in its revised estimate. Carter’s decision rejected that request.

A similar dispute in neighbouring Nevada ended after the administration’s initial allegations were substantially reduced. Federal officials had identified 16,000 suspected non-citizen voters, but verification procedures brought the figure down to 185 before it fell to zero.

Carter described the California case as part of a wider pattern of federal intervention in election administration.

“The DOJ’s actions are indicative of a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference by federal officials,” he wrote.

The case comes amid repeated claims by Trump that fraud will affect the midterm elections. The president has continued to dispute his defeat by Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Research has consistently found that voter fraud occurs in isolated cases but remains rare and has not been shown to affect election outcomes on a scale that would change results. The California ruling adds to the legal disputes over how election rules should be enforced and who has authority to oversee voting procedures.