Appeals court rejects DOJ bid to isolate California ballots

UCLA Voting Rights Project researchers told a federal court that 8,880 of 20,930 names on a Justice Department list of suspected noncitizen voters could not be matched to California’s current voter file, as a federal appeals court left in place a ruling rejecting the department’s request to set disputed ballots aside. The researchers’ analysis, submitted in litigation brought by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, also identified at least 22 people on the list who appeared to be U.S. citizens. The researchers said the comparison did not establish the citizenship or voting eligibility of every person named. The findings come from the plaintiffs’ analysis, and the reported match results have not been independently established in the court proceedings described in the reports. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Justice Department’s emergency request to require California to segregate ballots linked to the names. The decision left in place a district court’s denial of emergency relief. The appellate ruling addressed whether ballots had to be set aside while the case proceeds; it did not decide whether the listed individuals were citizens, eligible to vote...