The Justice Department ended its California ballot case after Election Day, after courts denied emergency requests to separate ballots linked to about 20,000 people federal agencies flagged as likely noncitizens.
In a Nov. 6 notice, the department asked to dismiss the case voluntarily under Rule 41. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie A. Hamill said post-election ballot processing would leave the ballots indistinguishable from other votes before the court could hold its hearing, then scheduled for Nov. 13.
The department had asked California and Los Angeles County to keep mail ballots associated with the people on its federal list apart while their citizenship was checked. The list’s designation did not establish that any person on it was a noncitizen or had voted unlawfully.
The Supreme Court denied the department’s emergency application on Nov. 2. A federal district judge had rejected the ballot-separation request, and the Ninth Circuit also denied emergency relief. EconoTimes previously reported on the district court’s rejection of the request.
California challenged the reliability of the federal list and warned that setting ballots aside could affect eligible voters. The department argued that separating the ballots would protect lawful votes. The dispute followed a broader federal effort to check the citizenship of people listed on California’s voter rolls.
With the election over and the ballots expected to be mixed with other votes before the scheduled hearing, the department said the court could no longer grant the separation it had sought. The case ended without a ruling on whether anyone on the list was a noncitizen or had voted unlawfully.
