Ninth Circuit Orders California Response on 20,000 Suspected Noncitizen Ballots by Noon Saturday
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Oct 24
Ninth Circuit Orders California Response on 20,000 Suspected Noncitizen Ballots by Noon Saturday
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Oct 24
Summary
A federal appeals court gave California until noon Saturday to answer the Justice Department’s emergency bid to segregate roughly 20,000 mail ballots linked to suspected noncitizens before further processing.
The DOJ turned to the Ninth Circuit after U.S. District Judge David Carter missed a deadline it had sought, arguing that each minute of continued processing risks irreversible vote dilution because ballots become harder to isolate.
California election officials opposed the request, saying counties lack authority and federal data to verify citizenship and cannot pull back ballots once signature-verified envelopes are separated from anonymous ballots.
Los Angeles County alone has already processed 331,000 ballots, underscoring the practical obstacle as the appeals court weighs emergency action while Carter still has a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
The dispute stems from a suit filed Oct. 15 by federal prosecutors, who say 20,000 is a floor for potentially ineligible ballot recipients, while Gov. Gavin Newsom has defended California’s election safeguards.