20,000 Ballots Center Federal Challenge to California Midterms

The federal government will contest the counting of 20,000 ballots in California.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, a Clinton appointee, ruled on Wednesday that the Trump administration's claim of noncitizen voters was not credible. The judge determined that federal intervention would violate multiple laws and disrupt the state's election process.

Despite the ruling, the Justice Department filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. This follows a Monday decision by a three-judge panel that denied a prior emergency request for lack of jurisdiction. Judges Mark J. Bennett and Gabriel P. Sanchez wrote separately that they would have denied the request on the merits.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli argued that the administration's actions were necessary to prevent the dilution of votes from eligible citizens. "Every day, more ballots are processed by election officials. This ongoing emergency disenfranchises American citizens through dilution," Essayli wrote.

Gov. Gavin Newsom responded on Thursday by announcing the deployment of election lawyers to key districts. The governor stated that California made the illegal seizure of ballots a felony. He said the state is preparing to monitor federal observers with 1,340 election law attorneys and over 1,000 volunteers.

County officials have also pushed back against federal threats. Susan K. Blitch, counsel for Monterey County, described the Justice Department's efforts as an attempt to unlawfully intimidate officials. In Contra Costa County, counsel Thomas L. Geiger called it legally unsound for the registrar to disregard state law to comply with federal demands. Attorney Tony Lopresti of Santa Clara County said his county reserves the right to pursue legal remedies against the department.

President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that California has hundreds of thousands of bad ballots. He stated that California has very corrupt elections and that he would have won by a large margin if the process were honest.

Judge Carter noted that the federal government has never before sought to coerce a state to abandon its constitutional election procedures on the eve of an election. He wrote that the administration asked the court to believe it reigns as a sole sovereign, but that California and its people are sovereign, too.