Another Trump & Co. effort to get into the state’s effort to hold elections , while underway, gets another thumbs down….
A federal judge on Wednesday denied the Trump administration’s last-ditch attempt to force California to screen thousands of ballots from purported noncitizens based on data that state officials say is riddled with errors.
U.S. District Judge David Carter said the administration’s demand that California set aside as many as 20,000 ballots threatens to disenfranchise thousands of citizens and disrupt the constitutional requirement for states to control their own elections.
“If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger,” Carter, a Clinton appointee, wrote in a ruling that swept aside the Justice Department’s 11th-hour move to impose new procedures on the state.
“The Executive’s requested relief … would wreak havoc and disrupt the election that is already underway, create a chilling effect on election workers and voters alike, and discount the votes of United States citizens,” the Los Angeles-based judge wrote.
The rebuke is the latest legal setback for President Donald Trump’s effort to exert more control over the way states vet registered voters and count ballots. The administration has spent the final weeks before the midterms focused on the threat of noncitizen voters, despite scant evidence of widespread abuse and warnings from civic groups that the crackdown is a pretext to spook legitimate voters who may fear being targeted…..
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