DOJ asks appeals court to intervene for California mail-in ballot lawsuit

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday asked an appeals court to intervene in its lawsuit against California to temporarily block the state from counting more than 20,000 mail-in ballots cast by what the Trump administration claims are from non-U.S. citizens.

The request, made to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, came before a lower-court judge, U.S. District Judge David Carter, has made a ruling on its request to block the counting of votes, Reuters reported.

Carter scheduled a hearing to consider the request for an emergency order blocking California from counting the ballots until the citizenship of the 20,000 voters can be verified, according to the outlet.

The DOJ announced Monday that 28 people accused of not being U.S. citizens were charged in connection with illegally registered votes.

The department said most of the 28 voted with “illegal and fraudulently obtained ballots.” Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said all suspected non-U.S. citizens charged appear “on the list of more than 20,000 likely noncitizen registrants we provided to California election officials last week.”

The department sued the state last week after giving California officials 48 hours to set aside the ballots of the 20,000 non-citizens for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“If California was unable to independently confirm the citizenship of people on that list, the Federal Government asked that California set aside ballots received from them until the person’s citizenship was confirmed,” the DOJ said in its lawsuit.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) blasted the suit and said the request goes against voting procedures. He accused the Trump administration of “demanding that California election officials VIOLATE federal law.”

“California’s elections are NOT Donald Trump’s to control. We will ensure EVERY California voter can participate in a free and fair election,” Newsom said on social media.

The DOJ and President Trump have warned that California officials could face criminal charges if they include all of the 20,000 ballots in its midterm election count.

Trump said last week that those officials, if convicted, “will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!”

Newsom said Trump was using the DOJ to make “sad, desperate” attempts “to suppress California voters” before the midterm elections, and that the “unprecedented request … should scare the hell out of every American.” He cited legal precedent in that states oversee their respective election processes.

“We will continue to carry out free and fair elections in the Golden State — and call out this authoritarian as he tries every play in the dictator’s playbook,” Newsom said in a written response.