DOJ appeals ballot ruling and subpoenas California election officials

What happened

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter denied a Justice Department request that California segregate mail ballots tied to as many as 20,000 people the department described as likely noncitizens. Carter wrote that the allegations were not credible enough for last-minute relief and that the order would “wreak havoc” on an election already underway, risk disenfranchising voters, and chill workers. More than 3.7 million Californians had voted and over 500,000 ballots had been processed, officials said, making it hard to match remaining envelopes to named voters. The department said it would appeal immediately to the Ninth Circuit; First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the solicitor general authorized the appeal and that delay “disenfranchises American citizens through dilution.”^{⁠[23, 30]}

The department also opened a criminal investigation into alleged noncitizen voting and issued grand jury subpoenas to local election officials, including at least two employees of the Los Angeles County registrar. Subpoenas sought testimony, internal communications about federal demands, and records of how counties screen for unlawful voting. Marshals served one worker at home after office service, according to people familiar with the matter. Separately, the department asked Washington state to set aside ballots for hundreds of people it identified as alleged noncitizens; Secretary of State Steve Hobbs called the list not reliable. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ordered the department to disclose more about similar letters to several states.^{⁠[10, 14, 16, 24]}

Background

The department sued California in mid-October after accusing officials of missing a 48-hour deadline to review a list built with Homeland Security Investigations data. California mails ballots to all registered voters. Carter, a Clinton appointee, said prosecutors had already shown they can pursue individual cases, citing arrests of 28 people alleged to have voted or registered illegally. States, not the federal government, generally administer congressional elections unless Congress provides otherwise.^{⁠[23, 30]}

How the coverage differs

Left-leaning outlets (HuffPost, Mother Jones, The New York Times, The Guardian, The New Republic) stress that claims are unsubstantiated, quote Carter’s language about democracy and monarchy-like power, and frame subpoenas as pressure on Democratic states. Center outlets (ABC News, CBS News, PBS, Bloomberg, NBC) report the appeal, subpoenas, processed-ballot numbers, and Washington and D.C. developments with less loaded framing. Right-leaning outlets (Fox News, New York Post, Breitbart, Daily Signal) emphasize suspected noncitizens, automatic voter registration, vote dilution, and that Carter is a Clinton appointee; Fox quotes Essayli and critics of California’s refusal to check the list.^{⁠[2, 12, 14, 16, 23, 30, 31]}

What's still unclear

How many people on the California or Washington lists are actually noncitizens remains disputed; California said a preliminary review found U.S.-born people and non-voters. It is not public how many counties received subpoenas, what a grand jury will hear after Election Day, or how the Ninth Circuit will treat the emergency appeal. The accuracy of federal matching methods and the full set of states that received similar letters are not fully disclosed.^{⁠[14, 23, 24, 30]}

Written by Grok from the full articles, at a reader's request. AI can get details wrong; check the sources.