Federal judges rejected efforts by the Trump administration to force California election officials to segregate approximately 20,000 mail-in ballots from alleged noncitizens ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ruled the demand violated federal law and threatened voter rights, while Judge James Boasberg affirmed state election sovereignty. The Department of Justice filed emergency appeals to the 9th Circuit and Supreme Court amid similar interventions in Washington and Alaska.
Judge Carter's ruling against ballot segregation
- ▪U.S. District Judge David O. Carter stated in his October 28, 2026 ruling that the U.S. Constitution does not grant the executive branch authority to coerce state and local governments into abandoning their established election procedures
- ▪U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ruled that forcing California to segregate ballots during an ongoing election would violate the National Voter Registration Act, which bans changes to voter rolls within 90 days of an election
- ▪U.S. District Judge David O. Carter issued an order on October 28, 2026, rejecting a U.S. Justice Department request to force California election officials to set aside roughly 20,000 ballots over noncitizen voter allegations
Justice Department demand and voter list reliability
- ▪California and Los Angeles County election officials reported that the U.S. Justice Department's list of roughly 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters was unreliable, noting that some individuals named lacked active voter registrations or were eligible U.S. citizens
- ▪The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit on October 15, 2026, demanding California officials review a list of roughly 20,000 registered voters alleged to be noncitizens within a 48-hour deadline
Appeals of the California court decision
- ▪The U.S. Justice Department authorized an immediate appeal following Judge David O. Carter's decision rejecting the bid to segregate ballots
- ▪A 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel voted 2-1 to reject an earlier emergency appeal by the Trump administration as premature
Donald Trump on noncitizen voting
- ▪President Donald Trump repeatedly asserted that noncitizen voting is widespread across states and insisted state governments are failing to take sufficient action to prevent it
- ▪President Donald Trump criticized U.S. District Judge David O. Carter's ruling on October 29, 2026, describing California's elections as extremely corrupt and asserting without evidence that millions of bad ballots exist in the state
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights lawsuit
- ▪Judge James Boasberg ruled, ordering the Trump administration to stop demanding that California officials segregate suspected noncitizen ballots
- ▪The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights argued in its lawsuit that the Trump administration's demands to segregate California ballots from suspected noncitizens threatened to unlawfully disenfranchise recently naturalized U.S. citizens incorrectly identified as noncitizens
Charges against alexander Muñoz
- ▪Federal prosecutors alleged that Belizean national Alexander Muñoz falsely claimed U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in September 2019 and voted illegally in the 2020, 2022, and 2024 elections
- ▪Federal prosecutors in California charged 28 foreign nationals with fraudulent voter registration or illegal voting as part of a statewide election law enforcement sweep
Justice Department request in Washington
- ▪The U.S. Justice Department sent a letter to Washington state election officials in October 2026, requesting that they refrain from counting ballots submitted by approximately 400 voters suspected of lacking U.S. citizenship
- ▪Washington's top election official stated that the Justice Department's request to refrain from counting ballots from hundreds of suspected noncitizen voters was intended to cast unfounded suspicion on election results
Justice Department lawsuit in Alaska
- ▪Alaska officials urged a court to dismiss the Justice Department's lawsuit seeking to delay election certification, stating the state took measures to distinguish candidates with similar names on the U.S. Senate ballot
- ▪The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit in Alaska in October 2026, requesting a court delay certification of midterm election results if Alaska's Republican incumbent U.S. senator loses by a narrow margin
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