California’s 20,000-Ballot Fight: Judges Press DOJ Over Suspected Noncitizen Voters

A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Sunday heard arguments from the Department of Justice, which argued that California should not count 20,000 ballots from voters suspected of being noncitizens until their immigration status can be verified.

The appeals court did not issue a decision on Sunday, but a district judge is scheduled to hear the DOJ’s request Tuesday.

When a reporter asked U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla whether California has the ability to verify if noncitizens are on the voter rolls, Padilla replied that it is “determined on the front end, when people register to vote.”

This refers to California’s requirement that people registering to vote attest under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens. However, individuals are not required to provide documentary proof of citizenship.

But U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli responded on X, arguing that California’s method of verification does not ensure that only legal citizens are voting.

“Attestation is not verification. Ensuring only citizens vote isn’t political, it’s enforcing state and federal law,” he wrote.

Stephen Richer, a legal fellow at the Cato Institute and former Maricopa County recorder, told the Daily Signal that the Justice Department faces both a procedural hurdle and a difficult legal question: whether it can require California to set aside ballots tied to voters the government believes may be noncitizens.

“Can the Justice Department say, ‘We have suspicion of these individual voters, and therefore these individual voters need to substantiate their citizenship in a manner that is not required of all other California voters’?”

Richer added that he thought it was “very unlikely” that the DOJ would get the result it wants.

“And of course, each day that goes by, California hasn’t paused doing what it’s doing,” he said.

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