“Our Democracy Is in Danger” — Judge Rejects Trump Bid to Block 20K Votes in CA

The Trump administration’s attempts to discount the votes of tens of thousands of voters it has dubiously deemed ineligible to participate in this year’s midterm elections hit two major roadblocks on Wednesday, as officials in Washington state and a judge’s ruling in California challenged the White House’s reasoning.

In August, the administration issued a report claiming that 24,000 people who took part in the 2020 election were noncitizens. Though many observers noted major flaws in the report, the White House has continued to push its disenfranchisement campaign, sending lists of residents’ names to several states and demanding that officials segregate their ballots.

After the administration sent Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs a list of people in his state that they said should be deemed ineligible to vote, a preliminary review of the list by Hobbs’s staff found that many of its claims were erroneous. The list included several names of U.S. citizens, for example.

The list is “not reliable,” Hobbs wrote on Wednesday in an open letter to the administration. “Without individualized proof of ineligibility, it would be both irresponsible and illegal for election officials to decline to process a registered voter’s ballot.”

A “significant number” of the names on the list are people who are simply “not currently registered to vote or are on inactive status,” he said.

Hobbs was emphatic in his refusal to comply with the White House’s demands to segregate ballots.

“State and local election officials in Washington work tirelessly to administer free and fair elections,” Hobbs wrote. “They are truly heroes of democracy. … Rather than distract these dedicated public servants from their important work at this late hour with a meritless lawsuit, I strongly encourage you to revisit the deeply flawed data you provided earlier this week, identify any actual proof, and work collaboratively with my office in the weeks or months to come.”

Also on Wednesday, a federal judge ruled against the administration in a lawsuit it had filed against California. The suit seeks to segregate 20,000 ballots belonging to supposed noncitizens in that state’s upcoming elections. Notably, in paperwork filed with the court earlier this week from Los Angeles, officials discovered that a “high percentage” of the names belong to people born in the United States.

Judge David O. Carter did not mince words in his decision.

“This case is about the right of every American citizen to vote in a free and fair election,” the federal judge wrote. “Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch.”

“In bringing this lawsuit, the Executive would have this Court believe that it reigns as a sole sovereign. But California and its people are sovereign, too,” Carter added.

The request by the administration to segregate ballots “violates longstanding constitutional principles mandating that states have control over their elections” that could have long-term precedential consequences, Carter said.

He continued:

Constitutional rights and our democracy are at stake. The public interest favors their protection. Individuals who have met the requirements of California’s voter registration laws must not be deprived of a core right merely because of unfounded allegations stemming from a procedure rife with uncertainty and errors.

“Eroded trust in our democracy is irreparable,” Carter wrote in the conclusion of his ruling. “Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred. If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger. This Court declines to be a party to such process.”

The refusal by Washington state officials to comply with the administration’s demands, as well as the legal ruling from a federal judge, could be challenged by the White House. But with only a few days left before the midterms, it’s unlikely that any action — short of one that is drastic and potentially unlawful — could occur in time for an appeal.

These two events come as recent polling indicates that most Americans are skeptical that President Donald Trump will accept the final outcome of the midterm elections, especially if Democrats win one or both Houses of Congress, as they’re projected to do. Trump himself has indicated that he will only accept the results if he deems them to be “honest.”