Appeals Court Questions Trump Bid to Void 20,000 California Mail Ballots
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 25
Appeals Court Questions Trump Bid to Void 20,000 California Mail Ballots
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 25
Summary
Two of three appellate judges signaled strong skepticism at a Sunday hearing over the Trump administration’s request to force California to set aside roughly 20,000 mail ballots allegedly sent to noncitizens.
Justice Department lawyer Matthew Donnelly offered few specifics, saying the government relied on a voter list bought by an unnamed third party and matched it with federal citizenship data using third-party software.
Judge Mark J. Bennett, a Trump appointee, pressed whether election officials could lawfully disqualify voters without “extraordinary proof,” faulting the administration for asking the court to accept its claims without district-court fact-finding.
A Los Angeles election systems worker warned in a sworn statement that trying to filter the flagged ballots now could have a “catastrophic impact” on election operations, underscoring the case’s stakes with midterms nine days away.