A federal judge denied the Trump administration's request to stop California from processing up to 20,000 ballots, ruling it would "wreak havoc" on the midterm election.

U.S. District Judge David Carter issued the ruling Wednesday, Oct. 28, rejecting the Department of Justice's bid for a temporary restraining order that would have required the state to set aside ballots from people the federal government alleged are likely noncitizens, NPR reported.

The decision carries direct implications for El Dorado County. County spokesperson Carla Hass told the Sacramento Bee the county has no tools to verify a voter's citizenship. "Our county elections officials will never knowingly facilitate noncitizen voting because we have no way to verify the citizenship of a voter," Hass said. "This is a state-level issue."

More than 3.7 million Californians had already voted by the time Carter ruled, according to PBS. Court filings showed over 500,000 ballots had already been processed, meaning envelopes had been verified and ballots removed. Los Angeles County officials testified that would make it virtually impossible to match a ballot to a specific voter.

What the judge said

Carter wrote that segregating ballots would require counties to develop new sorting methods and "risk disenfranchising an untold number of voters." He found the request would have the same effect as purging voters, violating the National Voting Rights Act (NVRA). The NVRA prohibits changes to voter rolls within 90 days of an election.

"Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch," Carter wrote in his 26-page ruling, according to NPR.

Carter also wrote that the federal government's process for identifying alleged noncitizens "raises significant concerns" and that he could not conclude the process is credible.

DOJ appeals

Justice Department prosecutors said they would appeal the ruling. It marked the federal government's second appeal in the case. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had denied an earlier appeal because it came before the district court's decision, PBS reported. Two of the three judges on that panel also expressed skepticism about the lawsuit's merits.

The matter could reach the U.S. Supreme Court, according to NPR.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli wrote on social media after the ruling: "Every day, more ballots are processed by election officials. This ongoing emergency disenfranchises American citizens through dilution."

Background

The DOJ sued California election officials Oct. 15, accusing them of failing to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a list of 20,000 people the federal government alleged were likely noncitizens on the state's voter rolls. The Sacramento Bee reported that acting Deputy U.S. Attorney General Trent McCotter sent a letter and a password-protected thumb drive with the list to Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan. Weber refused, saying the DOJ had not shared its methodology and waited until the last minute to act.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement the ruling is an important victory. "But this fight is not over. We will keep fighting to protect California's elections from unlawful federal interference and get this baseless lawsuit dismissed," Bonta said, according to NPR.

The accuracy of the DOJ's list remains disputed. A Los Angeles County analysis of a sample found a significant portion of people on the list had records indicating they were born in the United States, NPR reported. A U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services official contested that finding in court filings.

The DOJ has filed a similar request in Washington state and a separate lawsuit in Alaska seeking to delay certification of a Senate race.