OMM Newsroom
A federal judge on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s request to block 20,000 California ballots cast by voters whose US citizenship has been questioned, Anadolu Agency reported.
US District Judge David Carter said the federal government had never before sought, on the eve of an election, to pressure state and local authorities to abandon their constitutional election procedures. The request to segregate and exclude more than 20,000 ballots violated longstanding principles giving states control over elections, he wrote.
Carter described the administration’s allegations as “not credible” and said intervening just days before the Nov. 3 midterm elections would violate federal voting laws and cause disruption.
“If Plaintiff’s last-minute request for relief were granted, either party could create chaos for their own political purposes to disrupt the election process,” Carter said. “Over 20,000 registered Californians would potentially lose the right that generations of Americans have fought to preserve.”
“The Government’s Application for Temporary Restraining Order is DENIED,” the judge wrote.
Carter said granting the unprecedented request would likely disenfranchise eligible voters and encourage future political interference in elections. He said the public interest was served by protecting constitutional rights and democracy, and that voters who met California’s registration requirements should not be deprived of a fundamental right based on unfounded allegations arising from a process prone to uncertainty and errors.
The judge noted that federal laws already provide for prosecuting people who vote illegally, while California has rules “to cancel the voter registrations of any individuals proven ineligible.”
“The Executive Branch cannot replace the remedy Congress carefully enacted with its own unlawful and unconstitutional solution instead,” Carter said. “Eroded trust in our democracy is irreparable. Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred.”
“If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger,” Carter concluded. “This Court declines to be a party to such process.”
The decision was the second this week to deny the Trump administration a temporary restraining order against California and Los Angeles County. On Monday, a three-judge panel of the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the government’s emergency request in a separate order, according to media reports.
