(The Center Square) - The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal on Monday by the Trump administration to segregate 20,000 California ballots for fears of noncitizen voting in the midterm elections, one day before polls close.
Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday asked justices to temporarily block an order preventing officials from segregating mail-in ballots ahead of the election. Justice Elena Kagan denied the motion in a brief unsigned order that did not indicate opinions of others on the court.
Solicitor General John Sauer said segregating the ballots is a necessary step to ensure the integrity of federal elections in California. The state sends mail-in ballots to every registered voter leading up to an election.
"Once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back," Sauer wrote in a filing. "The only way to preserve the district court's ability to grant relief to the United States after a full merits proceeding, therefore, is to segregate the challenged ballots now."
Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, said the Justice Department did not have authority to require California operate under separate guidance based on suspected criminal behavior.
"It is simply physically impossible for the registrars to obey their own California laws and do what the federal government has requested," Olson told The Center Square.
On Oct. 13, the Justice Department warned the California Secretary of State's Office about 20,000 "highly likely" noncitizen voters. Election officials in California said the effort would create confusion for voters and sow distrust in the system.
Kiersten Pels, a spokesperson for the Justice Department, told the Center Square 28 people on that list were charged with federal crimes, including lying about their citizenship to vote.
“What undermines confidence is noncitizens voting,” said Pels. “Eligible citizens are not affected. We asked counties to set aside these ballots, not cancel them, until citizenship is confirmed."
Regardless, Olson said California has a process to ensure noncitizens are not participating in elections. He said the process is administered on an individual basis, rather than purging from a list. Olson doubted the quality of evidence federal officials had on noncitizens voting.
"They're probably not going to qualify under California's requirement that evidence of extraordinary quality needs to be brought in if you're going to actually stop someone during the voting process," Olson told The Center Square.
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