DOJ Seeks to Set Aside California Ballots on Federal List

The U.S. Justice Department has asked a federal court in Los Angeles to order California to set aside returned mail ballots linked to people on a federal list of more than 20,000 registrants officials describe as likely noncitizens, until their citizenship is verified. The court had not ruled on the emergency request as of Wednesday, October 21, and no hearing date had been reported. The department’s filing seeks to prevent election officials from counting the identified ballots while checks are conducted. The list is not a judicial finding that its named individuals are ineligible to vote, and it does not establish that they cast ballots. The Justice Department says its review identified the registrants through comparisons of voter-registration information with government and other records. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter has said officials sought to remove evidence of citizenship and manually verify the remaining names. California officials challenge the list’s reliability and the federal government’s evidence. In court filings, Los Angeles County said an initial review of a 200-person sample suggested problems with the data. Among records where birthplace was...