9th Circuit Allows California to Tabulate 20,000 Mail Ballots

Voters in California will proceed with the counting of approximately 20,000 mailed ballots on November 3, following a decision by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals. The court denied the federal government's request to hold those ballots pending further review, allowing the state to include them in the final tally for the midterm elections.

The Trump administration filed its lawsuit on October 15, less than three weeks before the vote. The government argued that the ballots were sent to individuals who were likely non-citizens, making them ineligible to vote. However, the administration has not publicly disclosed the methodology used to create the list of voters or determine their citizenship status.

In a two-to-one decision issued on Monday, the appeals court found that the government had not given lower courts enough time to examine the matter. The majority opinion stated that the federal government was asking a court to instruct a state legislature on a matter traditionally within the state's constitutional authority.

Judge Gabriel Sanchez wrote that granting the petition would invite disorder and confusion for both voters and election officials. The court’s ruling keeps the case active in a lower court, where a hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s legal team responded to the suit in a filing on October 20. They described the litigation as a reckless political stunt at best and a threat to disenfranchise thousands of Californians at worst.

The Department of Justice has expanded its legal strategy beyond this single case. The department has sued 30 states and Washington, DC, seeking full access to voter rolls that contain sensitive personal data. Officials argue this access is necessary to prevent alleged fraud. So far, the department has lost 26 of those cases, with courts agreeing that the requests could interfere with state election administration.

Experts and voting rights advocates note that non-citizen voting is rare. A July investigation by Reuters identified only 129 cases of non-citizens being charged by federal authorities with illegal voting since 1996. Many of these instances involved administrative errors or misunderstandings of voting rules rather than intentional fraud.

Last week, the administration charged 28 immigrants in California with illegally voting. Reporting from the Los Angeles Times indicated that some of the accused were confused by the charges and maintained they had never registered to vote. Immigration agents have been assigned to identify potential non-citizen voters, in some cases visiting homes to inquire about residents' citizenship status.

The midterm elections will determine which party holds power in Congress. Republicans currently hold slim majorities in both the House and the Senate, while projections suggest Democrats are on track to gain seats in one or both chambers.