By Luc Cohen and Jan Wolfe
Oct 27 (Reuters) - A US judge appeared skeptical on Tuesday of the Justice Department's request to block California from counting any mail ballots for the November 3 midterm election from more than 20,000 registered voters the Trump administration alleges are noncitizens.
During a hearing in Los Angeles, US District Judge David Carter said he was concerned the request to sequester ballots could disenfranchise and confuse legitimate voters, calling it a "monumental change"
to election procedures when voting was already underway.
He said he would issue a ruling on Wednesday on the Justice Department's request for a temporary order barring officials from counting any ballots from the individuals the administration has flagged as noncitizens.
The lawsuit marks a rare intervention by the Justice Department in the voting process weeks before the midterms, with Donald Trump's Republican Party locked in a tight battle to retain control of both houses of Congress. Several states. including California, have begun early voting.
Justice Department lawyer Bilal Essayli said during the hearing the federal government had made a narrow request intended to ensure election integrity.
Carter responded that the "traditional remedy" for voter fraud was a criminal indictment, and said unlawfully cast ballots can be removed in the weeks after Election Day, prior to certification of the official results.
"You've got a remedy, for goodness sake," the judge told the prosecutor. "Go out and indict."
The US Constitution assigns individual states the responsibility of administering elections, though the federal government has some oversight role.
California has said the state's safeguards against noncitizen voting are robust. Anne Bellows, a lawyer for California, said during Tuesday's hearing the Justice Department's assertions relied on "mysterious database methods" and that complying with its demands would risk disenfranchising eligible voters.
"The Supreme Court has reiterated time and again that, as an election is close at hand, federal courts should not interfere to change the rules under which that election is held," Bellows added. "This applies with even more force when the election is ongoing."
California is the most populous US state and a Democratic stronghold. It has more seats in the House of Representatives — 52 — than any other state.
Trump has made California a focal point of his sweeping immigration crackdown since returning to the White House, accusing it of undermining public safety through its "sanctuary state" policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
Trump has repeatedly insisted that states are not doing enough to stop voting by noncitizens, which he says is widespread despite multiple studies and state audits showing it is rare. The US Justice Department on October 16 warned California election officials they could face criminal liability if they counted ballots from voters the Trump administration had flagged as potential noncitizens.
"This court believes that it would be wise that any threats to state and county election employees cease immediately," Carter told government lawyers during Tuesday's hearing.
ADDITIONAL TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS
The hearing came after a federal appeals court on Monday rejected an unusual emergency request by the Justice Department asking the appeals court to temporarily block California from counting the ballots before Carter had the chance to rule.
The Justice Department did not indicate how many of the more than 20,000 people it flagged in California had actually submitted a mail ballot.
Apart from California, the Trump administration has sought to intervene in elections in two states that are home to competitive races.
In Alaska, the Justice Department last week asked a judge to prevent certification of election results if the Republican incumbent senator loses by a slim margin, alleging the presence of another candidate with a similar name on the ballot could confuse voters. Alaska has urged that the case be dismissed, arguing it has taken steps to distinguish the two candidates on the ballot.
In Washington state, the Justice Department on Monday sent a letter asking officials not to count any ballots received from 400 voters it said may not be citizens. Washington's top elections official said the timing of the request indicated it was intended to cast unfounded suspicion on election results.
California had 23 million registered voters as of December 2025, while Washington had 5 million registered voters as of 2024, state records show.
Voting rights activists have expressed concern that the federal government's methods for scrutinizing state voter lists to identify noncitizen voters risk wrongly flagging naturalized citizens for removal from the rolls.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York and Jan Wolfe in Washington; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Deepa Babington, Bill Berkrot and Kate Mayberry)
