The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to consider contempt charges against an immigrant rights group and its lawyers after they published an analysis questioning the department’s list of suspected noncitizen voters in California.
What happened
On Sunday, the Justice Department defended a list of more than 20,000 people it says may be noncitizens registered to vote in California. In a court filing, it said the group’s analysis broke a judge’s order on how the list could be used. It suggested the judge refer the matter for a possible criminal contempt investigation. Contempt of court means disobeying or disrespecting a court’s orders.
The group, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), says it followed the rules. A spokesman for UCLA’s Voting Rights Project, which did the analysis, said the lawyers and experts “fully complied with the Court’s orders.”
What the analysis found
Two UCLA data analysts filed the review on Saturday. They reported:
- 8,880 of the 20,930 names, or 42%, did not match anyone on California’s current voter rolls.
- At least 22 people on the list were likely U.S. citizens.
- Nearly 7,500 naturalized citizens in the state could be wrongly flagged using the government’s method.
What each side says
The Justice Department called the report “political grandstanding” with no bearing on the case. Bill Essayli, who runs the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles, called it “bogus.” A department spokesperson said, “Every ballot cast by an ineligible voter cancels out the vote of an American citizen.”
California election officials say the list is full of errors. They also say there is no time before Election Day for the careful checks the law requires before anyone is removed from the rolls. Voters must swear they are citizens when they register and face felony charges if they vote illegally.
How we got here
- Oct. 28: A federal judge in California rejected the department’s request to set aside ballots from people on the list.
- Oct. 30: A federal appeals court panel refused, 2-1, to order the ballots set aside. The same day, Chief Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., let CHIRLA see the list but only to argue its right to sue.
- Oct. 31: The UCLA analysis was filed in court.
- Nov. 1: The department asked Boasberg to consider sanctions and contempt.
What comes next
Boasberg has not yet ruled. In a separate case, the department on Sunday appealed a San Francisco judge’s order that bars it from demanding that election offices remove possible noncitizens or separate their ballots. That judge set a hearing for Monday.
The fight is not limited to California. The administration has also asked Washington state to set aside about 400 ballots, and voter groups have sued to stop that request. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
