Judge Blocks Effort to Separate 20,000 California Ballots

WHO:

ABC News - The dissenting 9th Circuit judge argued that federal law requires California to vet potentially illegal ballots before counting them, warning that failing to do so would cause irreparable harm to the election.

WRAL - North Carolina U.S. Attorney Ellis Boyle said, “Every unlawful ballot silences the voice of a lawful voter, striking at the core of our great nation.”

WRAL - North Carolina State Board of Elections leader Sam Hayes said officials sent the FBI more names than the 30 people charged so far, so additional charges may follow; he declined to say how many.

WRAL - Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said, “We need to preserve the integrity of the ballot box by ensuring only those eligible are casting ballots.”

WRAL - Voting-rights attorney Hilary Harris Klein questioned the focus on alleged noncitizen voting, saying, “We have much bigger problems with our elections than non-citizen voting,” and said thousands of eligible voters’ ballots were likely to be rejected under stricter mail-voting and voter-ID rules.

ABC News - President Trump criticized Judge David O. Carter’s ruling and said, “California is very corrupt. The elections are extremely corrupt. The judge should not have done that but we’ll appeal that, of course.” He claimed without evidence there were “hundreds of thousands” and then “millions, in my opinion” of “bad ballots” in California.

ABC News - One of the three 9th Circuit judges dissented from the earlier decision, arguing federal law bars noncitizens from voting and requires California to vet potentially illegal ballots before counting them.

NPR - University of Delaware political scientist Kassra Oskooi said in a court declaration that USCIS’s matching protocol was “likely to be unreliable.”

ABC7 Los Angeles - First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said the Solicitor General authorized an immediate appeal.

CNN - Federal Judge David O. Carter of the Central District of California rejected the Justice Department’s request to intervene in the state’s mail-ballot counting.

CNN - The Trump administration and the Justice Department sought to have California election officials segregate ballots while investigating voters’ citizenship.

CNN - Carter is a Clinton appointee.

CNN - The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals considered an earlier appeal; two judges formed the majority and one dissented.

ABC News - The Justice Department sought an emergency order to segregate 20,000 California ballots.

WHAT:

WRAL - Federal prosecutors announced charges against 18 additional people in North Carolina accused of illegally registering or voting in past elections, including the 2024 presidential election. Nine cases are in the Eastern District, five in the Middle District and four in the Western District; the charges carry maximum prison terms of one to five years, depending on the offense.

WRAL - North Carolina officials previously sent letters to approximately 1,300 voters flagged by a federal database as possibly noncitizens.

WRAL - The Trump administration’s stated goal is to send 1,000 election monitors to all 50 states on Election Day, more than double the 388 monitors deployed during the 2022 midterms under President Joe Biden.

WRAL - Federal monitors may observe outside polling-place buffer zones of 25 to 50 feet, speak with voters and attend public election-board meetings, but may not enter voting enclosures while voting is underway.

ABC News - Millions of people had already cast ballots in California, where early voting had been underway for weeks.

ABC News - The Justice Department’s late-Wednesday appeal filing said the 9th Circuit should rule quickly because of “irreversible ballot processing occurring on an ongoing basis.”

ABC News - Los Angeles County had processed more than 500,000 votes, according to court filings.

ABC News - Judge Carter said the Justice Department’s demand violated the National Voting Rights Act, which prohibits changes to voter rolls or election procedures within 90 days of an election.

ABC News - Carter still had to rule on the federal government’s renewed request for a preliminary injunction barring California from counting the disputed ballots while the litigation is pending.

NPR - The case could ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

NPR - Public Rights Project chief program officer Jonathan Miller said the ruling showed that the DOJ’s claims were unsubstantiated and that it presented no evidence to justify its actions.

Democracy Docket - A Reuters investigation reported that the Trump administration issued more than 100 subpoenas seeking voter records across at least 13 states; at least 49 were issued through federal grand juries.

Democracy Docket - The subpoenas ranged from requests for individual voter records to entire local voter rolls containing tens of thousands of names.

Democracy Docket - At least 17 subpoenas went to California jurisdictions, including Los Angeles and San Diego counties, with previously unreported subpoenas to Marin and Fresno counties; Washington received roughly 60 subpoenas seeking information about individual voters.

Democracy Docket - Philadelphia officials confirmed at least four subpoenas. Federal prosecutors also issued grand jury subpoenas to at least eight Massachusetts cities and towns; at least three sought full voter lists with names, addresses, party affiliations, dates of birth, voting status, and voter identification numbers.

Democracy Docket - Federal prosecutors sought records concerning roughly 25 to 30 people in Lynn, Massachusetts, and voting records concerning dozens of people in Minnesota’s Anoka and Hennepin counties. The administration also subpoenaed election offices in Arizona, New York, Connecticut, Utah, and Michigan.

Democracy Docket - At least eight people from Anoka and Hennepin counties have been charged with voting as noncitizens; those cases remain pending.

NPR - Judge David Carter wrote, “Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch.”

ABC7 Los Angeles - Carter wrote that “California and its people are sovereign, too,” and that “either party could create chaos for their own political purposes” if the requested relief were granted.

NPR - The DOJ said it had charged dozens of people in the preceding two months with registering or voting without U.S. citizenship.

ABC7 Los Angeles - Judge David Carter said, “Every generation in our history has witnessed repeated clashes between those who seek to limit access to the ballot and those who fight to ensure it.”

ABC7 Los Angeles - Carter said the government’s request, if granted, could let either political party create chaos for its own political purposes and potentially deprive more than 20,000 registered Californians of the right to vote.

NPR - California Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote that the lawsuit was “a precursor to further interference here in California.”

NPR - The Justice Department’s lawsuit against California was filed Oct. 15.

NPR - The Justice Department said it had charged 28 people in California with election-related crimes.

NPR - Federal prosecutors asked Washington state officials to review a list of 400 registered voters the department considered likely noncitizens.

NPR - The Justice Department filed a lawsuit in Alaska seeking to block certification of the state’s Senate results if the Republican incumbent loses because of votes for a similar-named candidate accused of being a spoiler.

NPR - Bill Essayli said he would seek an emergency order from the 9th Circuit, arguing that ongoing ballot processing disenfranchised citizens “through dilution.”

NPR - Audits and investigations have found noncitizen voting to be extremely rare.

ABC7 Los Angeles - Carter wrote that California and its people are sovereign, and that granting the request could let either party create election-process chaos for political purposes.

NPR - Judge David Carter denied a temporary restraining order to stop processing the ballots in question.

NPR - Carter wrote, “Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred,” and warned, “If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger.”

NPR - The Justice Department said it had charged dozens of people in the previous two months for registering or voting without U.S. citizenship.

NPR - California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the ruling was an important victory, adding, “But this fight is not over.”

NPR - Public Rights Project chief program officer Jonathan Miller said the ruling showed the government’s claims were unsubstantiated and that it presented no evidence to justify its actions.

CNN - Carter denied the federal government’s bid to set aside as many as 20,000 California mail ballots for citizenship checks.

CNN - Carter warned the proposal would “wreak havoc and disrupt the election that is already underway,” create “a chilling effect on election workers and voters alike,” and “discount the votes of United States citizens.”

CNN - Carter wrote that eligible voters must not lose a core right based on “unfounded allegations” from a procedure “rife with uncertainty and errors.”

CNN - The Justice Department appealed Carter’s ruling.

CNN - The 9th Circuit sent the case back to Carter, ruling 2-1 that the appeal was premature; the majority also indicated the department’s arguments were likely to fail on the merits.

CNN - Carter’s order was 26 pages and followed a lengthy hearing.

ABC News - The Justice Department’s request was for an emergency order in the case.

WHERE:

CNN - The dispute concerns California’s ongoing mail-ballot counting and the Central District of California.

CNN - The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals handled the earlier appeal.

WHEN:

WRAL - The Justice Department plans to send federal election monitors to Wake, Alamance and Mecklenburg counties on Nov. 3.

WRAL - North Carolina’s State Board of Elections began investigating potential noncitizen voters in April, according to board leader Sam Hayes.

WHY:

ABC7 Los Angeles - Carter said granting the government’s request could allow either political party to create election-process chaos for its own political purposes.

NPR - Carter said he could not conclude the federal government’s process for creating its voter list was credible and that its protocol raised significant concerns.

ABC7 Los Angeles - Carter said the public interest favored protecting election staff working to ensure citizens could vote and that eroded trust in democracy was irreparable.

NPR - The Justice Department argued that once signatures on returned mail-ballot envelopes are verified, ballots are separated from envelopes to preserve voter confidentiality, making it impossible to retrieve an ineligible ballot.

NPR - A Los Angeles County analysis of a small sample found many people on the Justice Department’s list had records indicating they were born in the United States; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official Nicolas Bartell said none of those reviewed were U.S.-born, while acknowledging four “might have a claim to U.S. citizenship.”

NPR - University of Delaware political scientist Kassra Oskooi, an expert witness for voting-rights groups, said the federal matching protocol was “likely to be unreliable.”

CNN - The Justice Department said its emergency lawsuit relied on a purchased list of California voters matched against other government data.

CNN - Carter said segregating ballots would infringe California’s authority to administer its election and undermine voting and civil-rights protections.

CNN - Carter said federal law already allows the federal government to prosecute noncitizens accused of unlawful voting, and wrote that continued state ballot counting did not impair present or future prosecutions.

CNN - Election-law experts widely viewed the case as a test of how far the Justice Department might go to disrupt or dispute state ballot counting.

HOW:

WRAL - North Carolina’s state election board used its own analysis in addition to the federal SAVE database before referring potential cases for prosecution; Hayes said some people may have been mistakenly added to voter lists by DMV officials.

WRAL - North Carolina election officials used the federal SAVE database to flag potential noncitizen voters and conducted additional checks before referring cases for prosecution. Sam Hayes said litigation over using the database delayed the investigation.

NPR - USCIS official Nicolas Bartell provided the court additional details about the federal government’s methodology for creating its voter list.

ABC News - Once a vote is processed, California’s system prevents it from being traced back to the person who cast it.

NPR - USCIS senior official Nicolas Bartell said the agency’s review found none of the people in its reviewed sample were U.S.-born, while acknowledging four “might have a claim to U.S. citizenship.”

CNN - The Department of Homeland Security said 190,000 registered California voters could be ineligible foreigners. It supplied election officials a password-protected thumb drive with a handwritten password on a sticky note, containing 20,000 alleged “high confidence” matches, and gave the state 48 hours to act.

CNN - Local officials’ initial review found many names were absent from voter rolls or in suspended status, meaning those people would not receive mail ballots; officials also found indications some people identified as likely noncitizens were US-born. DHS disputed that in court declarations.

CNN - The administration had planned to use federal data-matching programs to identify suspected unlawful registrations and provide lists to election officials, with threats of prosecution or other legal action for inadequate responses. It also presented a similar list to Washington state officials and made claims involving three other Democratic-led states.

(UPDATED October 30, 2026 12:25 UTC)

A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s bid to set aside California ballots over citizenship checks. The department appealed, while one appeals judge dissented. North Carolina prosecutors charged 18 more people accused of illegal voting.

(UPDATED October 30, 2026 01:59 UTC)

A federal appeals court upheld the rejection of the Justice Department’s request to set aside 20,000 California ballots while investigating voters’ citizenship, though one judge dissented and argued the state must screen potentially illegal ballots before counting them. Judge David O. Carter said the federal demand could violate voting-rights protections and risk depriving eligible voters of their ballots; President Trump criticized the ruling and said the administration would appeal. Separately, federal prosecutors charged 18 more people in North Carolina with allegedly registering or voting unlawfully, while state election officials said additional charges may follow.

(UPDATED October 30, 2026 01:12 UTC)

A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s request to make California set aside 20,000 ballots while it investigates voters’ citizenship, ruling that the move could violate federal law and disrupt the state’s election procedures. The Trump administration is appealing, while millions of Californians have already voted and Los Angeles County has processed more than 500,000 ballots. Separately, federal prosecutors announced charges against 18 more people in North Carolina accused of illegally registering or voting, and state officials say they sent the FBI more names, so further charges may follow.

(UPDATED October 29, 2026 21:01 UTC)

A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s request to set aside as many as 20,000 California mail ballots for citizenship checks, ruling that the demand violated federal voting protections and could disrupt an election already underway. President Trump criticized the ruling, claimed without evidence that California had large numbers of fraudulent ballots, and said the administration would appeal; one of three 9th Circuit judges dissented from an earlier decision, arguing California should screen potentially illegal ballots before counting them. Millions of Californians had already voted, and the Justice Department’s appeal says the court should act quickly as ballot processing continues.

(UPDATED October 29, 2026 20:01 UTC)

A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s bid to set aside as many as 20,000 California mail ballots for citizenship checks, saying the move could violate voting-rights protections and disrupt an election already underway. The 9th Circuit sent the government’s appeal back to Judge David Carter, with one judge dissenting, and President Trump criticized the ruling while the administration said it would appeal. Carter still must decide whether to block the state from counting the disputed ballots as the legal fight continues.

(UPDATED October 29, 2026 19:01 UTC)

A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s emergency request to set aside as many as 20,000 California mail ballots for citizenship checks, warning that the process could disenfranchise eligible voters and disrupt an election already underway. Judge David Carter said the government’s voter-matching process raised serious reliability concerns, and a University of Delaware political scientist likewise described it as likely to be unreliable. The Justice Department is pursuing an appeal, while the 9th Circuit previously sent an earlier appeal back to Carter as premature, and the case could ultimately reach the Supreme Court.

(UPDATED October 29, 2026 17:59 UTC)

A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s emergency request to set aside as many as 20,000 California mail ballots for citizenship checks, ruling that the state could continue counting them. Judge David Carter said the government’s voter-matching process raised serious reliability concerns and that segregating ballots risked disenfranchising eligible voters and disrupting the election. The Justice Department is appealing, while Carter noted that federal prosecutors can pursue alleged unlawful voting without interrupting the state’s ballot count.

(UPDATED October 29, 2026 13:03 UTC)

A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s request to set aside as many as 20,000 California mail ballots for citizenship checks, warning that doing so could deprive eligible voters of their rights and disrupt an election already underway. The department relied on data matching to identify suspected noncitizens, but local reviews found some people on its list were not active voters or appeared to have been born in the United States, and experts questioned the matching process’s reliability. The Solicitor General authorized an immediate appeal, while the 9th Circuit sent an earlier appeal back to the judge as premature and indicated the government’s arguments were likely to fail.

(UPDATED October 29, 2026 10:01 UTC)

A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s emergency request to set aside as many as 20,000 California mail ballots for citizenship checks, warning the move could disenfranchise eligible voters and disrupt an election already underway. The department relied on a list of alleged noncitizen voters, but local officials found some names were not on active voter rolls and indications that some people were U.S.-born; Judge David Carter said the process was uncertain and California had authority to run its election. The 9th Circuit sent an earlier appeal back to Carter, ruling it was premature, and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the Solicitor General authorized an immediate appeal.

(UPDATED October 29, 2026 04:06 UTC)

A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s emergency bid to set aside as many as 20,000 California mail ballots for citizenship checks, allowing ballot processing to continue. Judge David Carter said segregating votes would risk lasting harm and that the government had not justified the move with reliable evidence; the department’s case relied on voter lists and government data that local officials and an expert questioned. The 9th Circuit sent the department’s appeal back to Carter, ruling it was premature, while California officials called the decision an important victory.

(UPDATED October 29, 2026 03:00 UTC)

A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s emergency request to set aside as many as 20,000 California mail ballots for citizenship checks, warning that the move could disrupt the ongoing election and disenfranchise eligible voters. The department said its request was based on voter lists matched with government data, but California officials found that some names did not appear on voter rolls and that some people flagged as likely noncitizens appeared to be U.S.-born. The judge said segregating ballots would infringe the state’s authority and undermine voting protections, and the 9th Circuit sent the department’s appeal back to him, ruling that it was premature.