US Justice Department Orders California to Set Aside 20,000 Ballots in Noncitizen Voter Fight

The United States Justice Department has ordered California election officials to identify suspected noncitizens on the voter rolls and set aside their mail-in ballots, warning that officials who knowingly count a noncitizen's ballot could face criminal liability. The move escalates a fight over voter rolls just days before the November midterm elections, with federal officials saying more than 20,000 people on the rolls are suspected noncitizens who were sent mail-in ballots.
Letters sent on Friday to county election officials asked them to work with the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to check each name on the federal list and separate any ballot whose voter's citizenship cannot be confirmed. First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli told one county that officials who knowingly tabulate such ballots risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime. The department also asked the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene before a district judge rules, seeking action by Saturday, after California officials declined to comply with an earlier 48-hour demand. The dispute follows a federal lawsuit filed earlier this month against Los Angeles County and California's Secretary of State. California officials have pushed back against the federal demands, and the courts must now decide whether the disputed ballots are counted with the rest, held apart while eligibility is checked, or set aside entirely.
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