The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a notice of appeal on Oct. 22 in its bid to block California from counting mail-in ballots from voters whom the federal government suspected of being noncitizens.
The DOJ asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene after U.S. District Judge David Carter failed to rule on its emergency application for injunctive relief by noon Thursday, the deadline set by the department.
The department said the judge’s silence amounted to what it called a “constructive denial” of its emergency application for preliminary injunctive relief, citing the “critical and exigent nature” of the case.
The DOJ sued California on Oct. 15 to prevent the counting of mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 people identified by the federal government as likely noncitizens.
The federal government asked that if California was not able to independently confirm the citizenship of the voters registered, the state should set aside ballots received until citizenship could be confirmed.
Los Angeles County said on Oct. 15 that it could not comply with the DOJ’s demand because the department has not provided evidence, sources, or methodology to establish that the individuals identified in its records were ineligible to vote.
“We cannot withhold or refuse to count ballots based solely on unverified allegations, nor can we disregard the legal requirements governing our election—and we certainly have no authority to act on records that are outside of our jurisdiction,” the county said in an Oct. 15 statement.
Jill McLaughlin contributed to this report.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
We had a problem loading this article. Please enable javascript or use a different browser. If the issue persists, please visit our help center.