The US Department of Justice has moved to dismiss its lawsuit against California over roughly 20,000 ballots that federal officials claimed may have been cast by noncitizens. The request was filed on Friday, as the state continued counting votes from the midterm elections.
The lawsuit sought to prevent California from counting the ballots until the immigration status of the people listed by federal officials could be checked. However, state authorities said the list was outdated and included eligible voters. A federal judge had also raised serious concerns about the accuracy of the information.
The request to end the case came days after Republicans suffered major losses in the midterm elections. It also arrived about a week before a scheduled hearing. A special master was expected to examine the federal list and assess whether California could separate the disputed ballots from other votes.
In its filing, the Justice Department said the action it had sought was no longer possible. The state had continued processing ballots, meaning the disputed votes would have been mixed with lawful ones by the time of the hearing. The department argued that this made its original request ineffective and required the case to be dismissed voluntarily.
California election officials said about 9 million ballots had been processed by early Friday. Nearly 5 million remained to be counted. Once a ballot is processed, identifying details are removed to protect voter privacy. As a result, officials cannot easily trace a counted ballot back to an individual voter.
Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, had previously warned about this problem. Before the election, he said the lawsuit could become irrelevant after Election Day because officials would no longer be able to isolate ballots that the government believed were linked to noncitizens.
The case was filed in mid-October, after ballots had been sent to all 23 million registered voters in California. Hundreds of thousands of votes had already been processed at that stage. Essayli said the purpose of the lawsuit was to prevent illegal voting from affecting the election.
The dispute was part of a broader effort by President Donald Trump’s administration to increase federal involvement in state election systems. Trump has repeatedly claimed that illegal voting is a serious problem in the United States, but he has not provided evidence to support claims of widespread fraud.
The Justice Department continues to face legal challenges over its use of lists containing people suspected of being noncitizens. Immigrant and voting rights groups have filed lawsuits seeking to restrict the government’s use of such information.
The administration also faced a setback in Alaska before the midterm elections. At Trump’s direction, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit seeking to block the victory of a Democratic candidate in the state’s Senate race. A federal judge dismissed the case. The administration has appealed the decision but has not yet filed its full brief with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Separately, California prosecutors have arrested more than 30 noncitizens in recent weeks over allegations of illegal voter registration. Some of those arrested are also accused of voting in previous elections. The cases are part of state-level investigations and are separate from the federal lawsuit.
Election clerks across California also received subpoenas shortly before the midterm vote. They were asked to testify before grand juries expected to meet in November. The exact targets of the investigations have not been made public. It is also unclear which individuals may face criminal charges.
US District Judge David O. Carter appointed a special master in late October. He had earlier allowed California to continue its election process while the lawsuit remained active.
Carter questioned the federal government’s attempt to separate ballots at such a late stage. He warned that the plan could prevent eligible citizens from having their votes counted and cause major disruption to the election. He also questioned the reliability of the list used by federal officials.
The special master was expected to review the list and determine whether California had a system to identify and separate the disputed ballots. The Justice Department’s latest filing may prevent that review from taking place.
The request to dismiss the case marks a significant change in the federal government’s legal effort in California. However, disputes over voter eligibility lists and federal authority over state elections remain active in other courts.
