Ninth Circuit Orders California Reply on 20,000 Suspected Noncitizen Ballots Within 48 Hours
Updated
Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Oct 24
Ninth Circuit Orders California Reply on 20,000 Suspected Noncitizen Ballots Within 48 Hours
3 articles · Updated · Yahoo! Voices · Oct 24
Summary
A federal appeals court told California to respond by noon Saturday to the Justice Department's emergency bid to segregate ballots tied to more than 20,000 people DHS says are likely noncitizens.
The department has sent letters to 57 of 58 counties, warning officials they could face criminal jeopardy if they knowingly count a noncitizen ballot and demanding voter records to verify citizenship.
California and Los Angeles County have refused, arguing the federal list is unverified, counties lack authority and access to check citizenship, and hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been processed beyond retrieval.
The clash comes 10 days before Election Day, with a district court hearing set for Tuesday; for now, no court has ordered any ballots set aside and counties are still counting returned mail ballots.
Reviews in other states have found few confirmed noncitizen voters: Georgia identified 20 among 8.2 million registrants, while Nevada said 185 people initially flagged by DHS were all U.S. citizens.