Los Angeles County says a federal bid to hold some mail ballots would require election software changes during voting and cannot reach ballots already separated from their identifying envelopes.
The Justice Department sued California on Oct. 15, seeking to keep mail ballots linked to more than 20,000 people out of the count until their citizenship is verified. Federal agencies identified the people as likely noncitizens, the department alleges. It says the proposed hold would protect citizens’ votes.
In an Oct. 20 court filing opposing a temporary order, the county said its ballot system has no existing function to set aside ballots from registered voters. Creating one would require development and testing, and the county would have to shut down DIMS, its voter-information system, to make the change during an election-system freeze. Ballots already removed from their identifying envelopes could not be matched back to individual voters, the county said.
The federal records also lack county voter IDs. County staff would therefore have to assess possible matches by checking names, birth dates and addresses. Of the statewide list, 7,035 records carried Los Angeles County addresses, including duplicates. The county argues that reviewing thousands of entries during the election would divert staff and risk leaving eligible votes uncounted.
The county’s preliminary review of the list found a recorded U.S. birthplace for 25.8% of sampled voters. It found canceled registrations for 42.9% and inactive registrations for 4.6%. In the sample, 86 people were sent ballots. Canceled or inactive registrations kept another 112 from receiving them. The county said those records do not determine any individual’s citizenship or establish whether the sample reflects the full list.
The Justice Department announced charges on Oct. 19 against 28 people it identified as lawful permanent residents and said they appeared on the list. The charges are allegations; they do not establish the citizenship of the other people listed.
The court is considering the requested temporary order ahead of the Nov. 3 election. Los Angeles County says its results must reach the California secretary of state by Dec. 3.
