DOJ calls for sanctions over California voter rolls analysis

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Sunday defended the accuracy of its claim that more than 20,000 “likely noncitizens” are on California’s voter rolls, even after an outside analysis found that more than 40 percent of the names flagged as noncitizens were not on the state’s voter rolls.

DOJ officials wrote in a filing that the analysis made by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) had nothing to do with the group’s legal standing, violating U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg’s order allowing them access to the federal government’s data on the 20,000 noncitizens.

The filing stated that Boasberg, an appointee of former President Obama, should hand the case to the department for investigation for possible criminal contempt of court.

“The report’s political grandstanding about alleged inaccuracies that purportedly impact California voters generally, or comparisons between the government’s list and the full ‘California voter file,’ has no relevance to whether the particular plaintiffs in this case have standing,” the filing stated.

Boasberg ordered CHIRLA not to disclose the names on the voter rolls and to use the data solely for their legal argument to challenge the Trump administration.

CHIRLA worked on the analysis with the University of California, Los Angeles’s Voting Rights Project, which filed the case. Voting Rights Project spokesperson Alberto Lammers told The Associated Press that the plaintiffs’ “counsel and their experts fully complied with the Court’s orders.”

On Monday, Boasberg allowed for a preliminary injunction blocking the DOJ from demanding California state officials segregate the noncitizens’ names from the voter rolls. He wrote that names on the lists were wrongly included and “that election officials’ ongoing review of those lists created a concrete risk to their ability to vote,” according to a statement from the Voting Rights Project.

“The court has seen the evidence and found that both our organization and our members are being harmed by this unconstitutional attack on the right to vote,” Angelica Salas, CHIRLA’s executive director, said in the Voting Rights Project’s statement .

“With Election Day tomorrow, this will give the needed breathing room to our citizen members and all other Californians who wish to vote, our volunteers and staff who engage in electoral work as well as to California officials who work so tirelessly to administer elections and protect the franchise,” Salas said.

The Trump administration brought its demand for California officials to separate the names of the alleged noncitizens to the Supreme Court on Monday. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote to the high court that segregating the names from the rolls “is a routine remedy when the lawfulness of ballots is questioned.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said in a statement he had “strong reason” to believe his office would win against the administration again.