By Luc Cohen
Oct 30 (Reuters) – A US appeals court on Friday rejected the Trump administration’s request that it temporarily block California from counting any mail ballots for the November 3 midterm elections from more than 20,000 registered voters the Trump administration alleges are likely noncitizens.
The decision marked the second time this week that the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals had denied an emergency request in the case from the Justice Department.
The decision comes as President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans are battling to retain majorities in both houses of Congress in the midterms. Trump’s administration has sought to pressure state election officials over alleged noncitizen voting, which all available evidence shows is exceedingly rare.
In 2-1 decision denying the Justice Department’s request for an order blocking California from counting the votes while the case plays out, a panel of 9th Circuit judges pointed to a lower court’s finding that the Trump administration’s list may not be fully reliable.
“There is a material risk that granting the United States its requested relief would result in disenfranchisement,” wrote US Circuit Judges Mark Bennett, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, and Gabriel Sanchez, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden.
The case stems from a lawsuit the Justice Department filed on October 15 asking a federal judge to order California to separate any ballots it received from people on the administration’s list and to not count them until it had verified that the people who cast the ballots were citizens.
US District Judge David Carter denied the Trump administration’s request for a temporary restraining order, writing on October 28 that it would “wreak havoc” on the election and potentially disenfranchise thousands of lawfully registered voters.
California has said the state’s safeguards against noncitizen voting are robust. It said the Justice Department’s assertions relied on “suspect data” and that complying with its demands would risk disenfranchising eligible voters.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Noeleen walder)
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