Supreme Court leaves California ballots in state hands

The U.S. Supreme Court denied the Department of Justice’s final attempt to intervene in California’s election administration on Monday evening. The decision arrived hours after the Justice Department filed its appeal and less than 24 hours before Election Day on Tuesday. This move allows California and Los Angeles County to continue processing ballots as planned.

The Justice Department argued that 20,000 likely noncitizens appeared on California’s voter rolls. It sought an order to set aside those ballots until citizenship could be verified. Lower courts had already rejected this request. Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee, called the federal effort a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference. A divided Ninth Circuit panel agreed, finding the federal list unreliable and the timing infeasible.

Ninth Circuit Judges Mark Bennett and Gabriel Sanchez wrote that granting the federal request carried a material risk of disenfranchisement. They cited the Purcell principle, which discourages changing election rules on the eve of an election. The opinion also noted that the Constitution grants states authority to run elections and that the National Voter Registration Act bars systematic removal of voters within 90 days of a federal election. Judge Patrick Bumatay dissented.

Data suggests the number of disputed ballots is lower than the 20,000 cited by the Justice Department. County election officials found that many names on the federal list did not have active registrations or mailed ballots. Data scientists from the University of California Los Angeles Voting Rights Project analyzed the list over the weekend. They found that 42% of the names did not appear on California’s current voter roll. The analysis also identified naturalized citizens on the list.

The legal battle has intensified in recent weeks. The Justice Department sent subpoenas to California election officials. It also reminded them that criminal prosecution is possible for allowing ineligible voters to cast ballots. A federal judge in San Francisco issued a temporary restraining order late Friday. That order bars the Trump administration from threatening or coercing election officials to stop processing registered voters’ ballots. The federal government has appealed that order.

The Supreme Court’s refusal to take up the case leaves the administration of Tuesday’s election in state hands. Los Angeles County will proceed with counting ballots under its current protocols. The Justice Department’s appeal was denied without the justices issuing a written opinion explaining their reasoning.