San Diego Congressmen Reject DOJ Bid to Hold 1,709 Ballots
Four Democrats sent a letter to the Justice Department arguing that the federal probe violates voting laws and state standards.
By Adrian Kovalenko ·
San Diego’s congressional delegation sided with local election officials on Monday against a federal demand to exclude specific ballots from the count. The four representatives challenged the Department of Justice’s effort to set aside votes cast by 1,709 voters alleged to be non-citizens.
Reps. Scott Peters, Juan Vargas, and Sara Jacobs from San Diego, along with Rep. Mike Levin from San Juan Capistrano, sent the letter to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. The group stated that the federal request breaches the National Voter Registration Act and the Voting Rights Act. They also cited California state law and the constitutional right to vote as grounds for their objection.
The dispute began when San Diego U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon sent a letter last month. Gordon requested that the County Registrar of Voters leave the ballots uncounted until citizenship status was verified. His office warned of legal consequences if non-citizens cast votes. The federal letter also demanded personal data, including Social Security numbers and copies of state IDs and driver’s licenses, from the affected voters.
Gordon set a 48-hour deadline for compliance that expired Sunday. In response, San Diego County called the request a thinly veiled voter purge. The county’s letter threatened legal action against the DOJ for unlawfully intimidating election officials and California voters.
The Justice Department claims these 1,709 individuals are part of a larger group of 20,000 California voters suspected of being non-citizens. The federal government sent similar letters to 57 counties across the state on Friday. Los Angeles County had already received its own letter prior to that distribution.
A federal appeals court panel rejected the administration’s emergency appeal last Monday. The three-judge panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to send the case back to U.S. District Judge David Carter. Judge Carter heard arguments from both sides last week and warned federal prosecutors that threats against state and county employees should cease immediately.
Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee on the appeals panel, questioned the legal basis for the federal intervention during the hearing. He noted that Congress and the California Legislature have already established rules for non-citizens. Bennett stated that he did not see federal law directing California on how to sort citizens from non-citizens.
