Justice Department sues California over ballots from voters it flags as possible noncitizens
publishers 58articles 67first reported 14 Oct, 13:25 UTCdeveloping since 14 Oct · 19 editionstop 25 #15
The U.S. Justice Department sued California on Thursday, asking a federal court to stop the state from counting mail ballots from more than 20,000 people whom the federal government identifies as likely noncitizens until their citizenship can be verified.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, followed a 48-hour deadline imposed by acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter. Federal officials had sent election offices, including Los Angeles County’s, a password-protected thumb drive containing names compiled from Department of Homeland Security data. The department asked officials to segregate ballots linked to those names and halt delivery of ballots that had not yet been sent.
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan declined to examine the drive, saying it did not meet the office’s data privacy and information-security protocols. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said her office had not received the list or an explanation of the methodology used to identify the voters.
Weber rejected the demand, saying it could unlawfully disenfranchise registered voters shortly before the Nov. 3 midterm election and that removals or restrictions must be based on verifiable information. The Justice Department said California had made no serious effort to work with federal officials to identify ineligible registrants.
Noncitizens are prohibited from voting in federal elections. California officials dispute that the federal government has substantiated its claims about the people named, and the court has not determined whether those voters are ineligible.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 5 with the publisher's own text; 7 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 52 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
- Publishers
- 58
- Source articles
- 67
- Given to the writer
- 8, 5 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 7
- This version written
- 52 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
- Publication gate
- passed
- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
The second model checked the writer's draft against the same sources and published it as written.
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