‘Block, segregate mail-in ballots’: Trump admin takes California ballot fight to Supreme Court

In an unexpected turn of events on the eve of the US midterm elections, President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to temporarily block California from counting mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters who federal officials allege are likely non-US citizens.

Escalating a legal fight that could affect thousands of voters, the Justice Department filed the ‌emergency request as it seeks to prevent counting the disputed ballots until each voter’s citizenship status can be verified.

A federal appeals court had on Friday refused the request.

Trump’s fellow Republicans are fighting to retain control of Congress in Tuesday’s midterms. California is the most populous US state and a Democratic stronghold.

The Trump administration has intensified its focus on alleged noncitizen voting in the run-up to the midterms.

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“Once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back,” the Justice Department said in its request to the Supreme Court.

The administration has asked the Supreme Court to order California to separate any ballots cast by people on the list from other ballots and not to count them until those voters are verified as citizens. It also urged the court ⁠to act quickly by ordering the ballots to be set aside on an interim basis while the justices formally decide the Justice Department’s request.

The US Constitution assigns the responsibility of administering elections to states, though the federal government has some oversight. The lawsuit marks a rare federal intervention in the voting process and signals the likelihood of the administration contesting the election results in court.

The administration had sought to restrict voting by mail, a mode used more often by Democratic-leaning voters, but the Supreme Court rebuffed that effort in September.

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A federal judge on Sunday dismissed the administration's lawsuit concerning the US Senate race in Alaska.

The list of 20,000 registered voters was prepared by the US Department of Homeland Security and sent to California officials and to Los Angeles County officials.

The Justice Department last month claimed in federal court that California is unlawfully preventing its enforcement of a 1996 US law that makes it a criminal offence for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. It said California’s action violated the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which holds that federal law generally ‌preempts state ⁠law.

California has said that the state’s safeguards against noncitizen voting are robust and that the lawsuit threatens to deprive 20,000 people of their right to vote based on vague accusations.

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California has 52 seats in the House of Representatives, more than any other state. Democrats need a net gain of four House seats to win a majority in the chamber.

The San Francisco-based 9th US ⁠Circuit Court of Appeals had on Friday refused to block the ballots, stating that the state’s power over election procedures and California’s “comprehensive statutory scheme to ensure the integrity of its elections,” including a system for canceling registrations if a voter is shown to be ineligible.

The Justice Department has told election officials in all 50 states that they could face criminal prosecution if they knowingly allow noncitizens to remain on their rolls or cast ballots.