Trump's bid to block California mail ballots over 'non-citizens' hits court roadblock

US President Donald Trump (AP photo).

A US appeals court on Monday rejected the US President Donald Trump administration’s request to stop California from counting mail ballots cast by people on a list of more than 20,000 registered voters whom the federal government suspects may be “non-citizens”.The 2-1 ruling by the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals marked a setback for Trump’s efforts to expand the federal government’s role in overseeing elections ahead of the November 3 midterm polls. Reuters reported.Republicans are seeking to retain control of Congress.The appeals court majority said the Justice Department had not given a lower court judge an adequate opportunity to consider the case, making it premature for the appeals court to intervene.

The lower court has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday.Circuit Judge Gabriel Sanchez, one of the two judges in the majority, said in a concurring opinion that the federal government was asking the court to direct a state legislature on an issue traditionally under state control. He warned that doing so could disrupt existing policies and create confusion for voters and election officials.Mail ballots are paper ballots sent to a voter's home address, allowing them to vote remotely rather than going to a polling place in person.

The lawsuit marks an escalation in the Trump administration’s pressure on state election officials over alleged noncitizen voting. It was the first time the administration had sought to prevent a state from counting votes, although it has not said how many people on the list had actually submitted mail ballots.Justice Department officials said on October 19 that 28 of the more than 20,000 people had been criminally charged with illegally voting.

Reuters reported.California, the most populous US state, is a democratic stronghold and has 52 seats in the House of Representatives, more than any other state. Democrats are seeking to regain control of the chamber from Republicans in the midterm elections.Trump has made California a focus of his immigration crackdown since returning to the White House, accusing the state’s sanctuary policies, which limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, of undermining public safety.

He has also alleged that the state’s immigration policies have enabled voter fraud.The Justice Department has warned election officials in all 50 states that they could face criminal prosecution if they knowingly allow noncitizens to remain on voter rolls or cast ballots. It has also sued 30 states and Washington, DC, for refusing to provide complete voter rolls containing sensitive personal information, but has lost 26 of those cases so far without winning any, as per Reuters.Voting rights activists have warned that the administration’s methods of checking voter lists could wrongly identify naturalised US citizens as noncitizens and lead to their removal from voter rolls.