Federal judge blocks Justice Department bid on California mail ballots

Key Points:

• A federal judge rejected the Justice Department's request for a temporary restraining order to prevent California from counting mail ballots from over 20,000 alleged noncitizen voters, citing that the election is already underway and such action would disrupt the process.
• Judge David Carter emphasized that segregating votes based on unproven allegations would harm democracy and create a chilling effect on voters and election workers, while also discounting valid votes from U.S. citizens.
• The Justice Department immediately appealed the ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that counting these ballots dilutes the votes of American citizens and constitutes an ongoing emergency disenfranchisement.
• California officials noted that more than 3.7 million ballots have already been cast and processed, making it impossible to identify which ballots belong to specific voters, and challenged the DOJ's evidence as based on suspect data.
• The DOJ has also taken similar action in Washington state, requesting that ballots from 400 alleged noncitizen voters not be counted, reflecting ongoing federal concerns about noncitizen voting ahead of the 2024 elections.