US appeals judges question bid to set aside California ballots
A US appeals panel questioned the Justice Department’s request to set aside ballots linked to roughly 20,000 California voters whose citizenship the government disputes. At Sunday’s hearing, judges raised doubts about both the request’s legal basis and whether they could intervene before a lower court ruled. The panel announced no decision. California says the list is unreliable and the order could prevent eligible voters’ ballots from being counted.
Geopolitics··Morning
Judges question the emergency ballot request
A three-judge panel of the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard the Justice Department's emergency request on Sunday, October 25. The department wants California to set aside ballots associated with roughly 20,000 people whose citizenship it disputes until their eligibility can be checked. It has not established that the people on the list are noncitizens. The unusual hearing took place while voting for the November 3 election was already under way.[1], [2]
Judge Mark Bennett questioned whether the appeals court could intervene before a district judge had ruled in the case. He also pressed the government on how an order overriding California's election procedures would fit the constitutional division of authority over elections. Judge Gabriel Sanchez asked where the disputed voter data came from. A government lawyer could not identify the third parties involved in assembling the list, raising a further question about its reliability.[1], [2]
California disputes the list and the timing
Justice Department lawyer Matthew Donnelly argued that federal law allows the government to challenge the counting of ballots it believes may have been cast by ineligible voters. California Deputy Solicitor General Samuel Siegel responded that the appeals court had no lower-court order to review. The federal government had gone to the appellate panel before the district court made findings or ruled on its earlier request. A district court hearing was scheduled for October 27.[1], [2]
State and Los Angeles County lawyers said existing procedures require strong evidence before a ballot is challenged. They dispute the federal list and warn that changing ballot handling just days before the election could disrupt the process and affect eligible voters. Los Angeles election official Dean Logan said an initial review found people on the list who were born in the United States, were not registered, or had never voted. The department's citizenship allegation remains contested.[1]
The panel ends the hearing without a ruling
The department sued California, Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County election official Logan on October 15. It had already sought an order from the district court to stop the counting of the challenged ballots. The department later sent letters to county election offices asking them to segregate ballots connected to the same list, giving them 48 hours to respond. California's objections concern both the list's accuracy and the authority of federal officials to impose that change.[1]
More than three million people had already voted in California, including over 500,000 in Los Angeles County, according to the figures reported during the dispute. Bennett and Sanchez questioned the government's position, while Judge Patrick Bumatay asked how objections involving a possible noncitizen voter should be handled. The panel issued no ruling at the end of the hearing. The ballots remain at the centre of a live court dispute rather than a judicial finding about the voters' citizenship.[1]
