US Justice Department seeks to halt vote count in California

The US Department of Justice is seeking a court order to suspend the counting of some votes in California, demanding that ballots it considers disputed not be counted until the citizenship of the voters is verified. A district court in Los Angeles rejected the request last Wednesday.

According to the AP news agency, California officials call the department’s list “very unreliable,” saying it most likely includes many people who are in fact US citizens. The court noted that people whom federal authorities had previously flagged as non-citizens on voter rolls in other states turned out to be naturalized US citizens.

Judge David Carter, as reported by Reuters, said: “Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, tried to force state and local governments to give up their own constitutionally guaranteed election procedures and submit to the will of the executive branch.”

Voting has been under way since early October

In California, a state with a largely Democratic voter base, voting has been under way since early October. Authorities mailed ballots to roughly 23 million registered voters, and hundreds of thousands have already been processed.

The US Justice Department has warned election officials in all 50 states that they face criminal prosecution if they knowingly leave non-citizens on voter rolls or allow them to vote.

According to a Reuters analysis, since 1996, when voting by non-citizens was made a crime, charges have been brought in only 129 cases. Often it was not deliberate fraud but, for example, administrative errors.

The US Constitution gives states the power to run elections, while elections to federal offices must meet criteria set by Congress. According to the AP, this division of powers frustrates Trump. The president has repeatedly tried to interfere in election processes, including through executive orders, which the courts blocked. He also unsuccessfully tried to restrict mail-in voting, claiming it is fraudulent.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz