Justice Department sues California, asking a judge to set aside ballots from more than 20,000 alleged noncitizen voters

The deadline this site reported on Wednesday has now become a lawsuit.

The Justice Department sued California on Thursday, October 15, asking a federal judge to block the state from counting mail ballots for the November midterm elections from more than 20,000 voters the Trump administration alleges are likely noncitizens. The suit was filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, which covers Los Angeles, immediately after the noon deadline the department had set on October 13 passed without the state taking the steps Washington demanded.

Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the filing in blunt terms, saying state facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable and that a state found responsible in court would have seriously undermined confidence in the electoral system. In the department's 15 page filing, Justice Department lawyer Andrew Darlington asked the court to order state officials to set aside vote by mail ballots from the people the federal government identifies as likely noncitizens, and to verify their citizenship, either independently or with federal officials, before those ballots are counted. Verification, the filing says, has to go beyond the unverified statements of citizenship used at registration.

California's leaders answered within hours. Governor Gavin Newsom's office called the lawsuit unfounded and described it as a desperate attempt to suppress California voters three weeks before election day, arguing the courts have already made clear the federal government has no role in how a state runs its election process. Attorney General Rob Bonta, speaking at an unrelated news conference, called the federal demand a dangerous attempt to destabilise safe and secure elections and said there is no widespread voter fraud problem. Senator Adam Schiff used the same language and said California will defend against the action.

The case now sits with a federal judge while Californians are already voting by mail. Any order would have to be carried out by county officials in the middle of an election, on a list the state did not compile and has declined to act on at federal speed. The picture is an illustration of a courthouse and ballot paperwork, not a photograph of the filing.