▲ Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) task force officers escort a suspect accused of illegal voter registration to a processing facility inside the federal building in Los Angeles on October 19.
A US court has rejected a request by the Justice Department to suspend the counting of mail-in ballots from 20,000 individuals in California suspected of not being US citizens.
According to the Associated Press on October 26 local time, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2 to 1 to deny the Justice Department's motion for an injunction. The department had sought to have California election authorities separate and withhold from counting the ballots of the 20,000 individuals flagged by the federal government as suspected non-citizens ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.
Previously, on October 15, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit claiming that the California state government was failing to take action despite suspecting that 20,000 non-US citizens were registered as voters for the midterm elections.
The department had demanded that the counting of mail-in ballots from these 20,000 individuals be withheld until their identities could be verified.
This court decision once again halts an attempt by the Donald Trump administration to tighten federal control over state-level election administration.
Judges in the majority opinion pointed out that separating ballots while voting is already underway would infringe upon voters' suffrage and could cause electoral chaos.
They also raised doubts as to whether the 20,000 individuals presented by the Justice Department were indeed non-citizens.
Los Angeles election authorities stated in court filings that a random sampling and investigation of the voters flagged by the Justice Department revealed that the vast majority were born in the United States.
A judge who wrote a dissenting opinion argued that screening out potentially illegal votes is a minimal measure to protect the integrity of elections.
With the ball now passed back following the denial, the US District Court for the Southern District of California is scheduled to hold a hearing on October 27 to review the positions of both sides once again.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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