Trump Administration Sues California Over Voter Rolls

The Trump administration on Thursday sued the state of California and a Los Angeles County official, seeking to temporarily block the state from counting mail ballots submitted by voters it suspects are noncitizens.The suit, which would apply to some 20,000 people in the state the administration has cast as “likely noncitizens,” is a long shot.But it opens a new front in the administration’s legal battles with local election officials weeks before the midterm elections.Over the past 18 months, the Trump administration has sued California and other states over voter rolls, and has lost resoundingly in court.

This time, the Justice Department is trying a new strategy, seeking a court order to prevent the counting of votes from the 20,000 people in the state identified by the Department of Homeland Security “until their citizenship status can be determined.”Similar past claims of thousands of illegal voters have fallen apart under scrutiny.Last month, election officials in Nevada said that they had examined a list provided by homeland security officials of 185 names of supposed noncitizens who had improperly been registered to vote, and found that every person on the list was a lawful citizen.In recent months, President Trump has claimed that hundreds of thousands of people have voted illegally.

Reviews by election officials and criminal investigators have found small numbers of people who have been caught voting illegally every election cycle — but not in quantities that would come close to deciding the winners of major races.California officials vowed to fight the administration’s effort.“This is a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day,” Gov.Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat, said on social media.

“Courts have made clear the federal government has no role in running state elections.”We are having trouble retrieving the article co...