WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday appealed to the Supreme Court to set aside thousands of disputed California mail-in ballots a day before crucial midterm elections.
The emergency appeal was issued after an appeals court rejected a request to set aside about 20,000 ballots that the federal government suspected may not be citizens.
The federal government says the ballots should not be counted until the voters’ identities are verified. California officials said the list was highly unreliable and could include many U.S. citizens.
The Republican Trump administration has prioritized identifying noncitizen voters this year, even though it is rare.
A district court judge has strongly rejected the Justice Department’s request, warning that the request could disenfranchise citizens in Tuesday’s midterm elections to determine control of Congress.
The Justice Department asked the high court to issue a limited injunction directing California to put the ballots on hold while the case proceeds.
“Once California mixes challenged ballots with legal ballots, it cannot retrieve challenged ballots,” Deputy Attorney General D. John Sauer wrote.
Read more: Analysis: More than 40% of names on DOJ’s list of alleged non-citizens are not on California voter rolls
Voting has been going on in California, a mainly Democratic state, since early October. About 23 million registered voters in the state have received mail-in ballots. Hundreds of thousands of ballots have been processed.
Lower courts sided with the state, with a district judge warning that segregating ballots would “wreak havoc” in the midterm elections and erode trust in the democratic process.
“Our democracy is in danger if the executive branch can discount votes based on unsubstantiated accusations and threaten ongoing elections,” wrote U.S. District Judge David Carter, nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton.
The Justice Department tried to hear the case quickly but failed to ask the appeals court to intervene earlier.
The Trump administration has scored a series of victories in emergency appeals to the Supreme Court, but judges previously rejected the president’s claims to restrict mail-in voting ahead of the midterm elections.
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