Trump administration sues California over universal mail-in voting

Governor Newsom called the lawsuit "a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day."(CN) — The federal government sued California on Thursday over the state’s universal mail-in voting system, in which all registered voters receive a mail-in ballot.The Justice Department claims in its complaint that more than 20,000 registered voters are “likely aliens” and asks a federal judge to “enjoin California from presently tabulating vote-by-mail ballots from likely noncitizens in the upcoming federal election until the voter’s citizenship status can be determined.”“State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche in a written statement. “If found responsible in a court of law, the State of California will have seriously undermined confidence in our electoral system and violated laws that protect our nation’s representative system of government."Governor Gavin Newsom lambasted the Department of Justice, calling their lawsuit “a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day,” in a written statement. He called the demand for an injunction “a totally unprecedented request that should scare the hell out of every American,” and a play from “the dictator’s playbook.”In July, the Department of Homeland Security warned California that over 190,000 registered voters “may be” noncitizens. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber responded, expressing doubts about the claim and asking for the underlying data. According to Weber, the department refused.On Tuesday, the Justice Department sent another letter, this time threatening to sue if Weber’s office didn’t “immediately instruct the appropriate elections official to segregate” the ballots of the 20,000 noncitizens from citizens — that is, to review the citizenship status of all 20,000 voters within 48 hours.“Nowhere has the federal government clarified the basis for suspecting — not even confirming with any level of certainty — the listed individuals are noncitizens,” Weber wrote in her response letter, also sent on Tuesday. “California’s election administration will continue to be governed by applicable federal and state law, not by unsubstantiated claims and outrageous demands.”“California election officials were given an opportunity to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls and to sequester ballots returned from suspected ineligible voters. They refused,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, in a written statement. “We are taking California to federal court to demand that the votes of American citizens not be diluted by noncitizens.”California began sending mail-in ballots to every registered voter in the state in 2020, the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. The practice has largely served to boost voter turnout, making it easier for most people to cast ballots.Trump has long been opposed to voting by mail — even though he’s done so himself at least twice in the last year — on the argument that it increases the prevalence of voter fraud. Last year, he told a reporter, “You can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots.” That stance is believed to have cost Republicans at the polls, and he has had to change his tune of late, urging Republicans to vote early by mail.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads